A new arrival in Austria often asks one question in the first week: "Where do I get my tax number?" The honest answer is that it depends on how you earn your living. For an employee, there is no number to chase. For a freelancer, there is a number and a form. And a third number, the social security number, matters more than most people expect, because it sits on the e-card that opens the doors of the health system. This guide untangles the tax number in Austria and its companions.
Do you need a tax number in Austria?
If you are an employee, no. Your employer withholds income tax from your salary each month (Lohnsteuer) and pays it to the tax office, the Finanzamt Österreich. You do not apply for a tax number to be paid. The oesterreich.gv.at tax checklist makes the point: the annual tax return is a choice in many cases, not an obligation.
If you are self-employed, yes. You request a Steuernummer (tax number) from the competent Finanzamt when your activity begins. The questionnaire for individuals is the Verf 24, which you send through FinanzOnline (the online tax portal), as a PDF or on paper. Your first return for the year follows the next year.
So the question to ask is not "What is my tax number in Austria?" but "What is my status?" Employees need a social security number; the self-employed need that too, plus a tax number.
How does the Austrian social security number work?
The Sozialversicherungsnummer is issued when you enter the Austrian social insurance system. For an employee, it works like this:
- You give your employer your passport or ID card. They read your name, nationality and date of birth from it.
- They request your number electronically through ELDA, the social insurance reporting system, at the latest when they register you with social security.
- They tell you the number. You can use it at a doctor even before you receive your e-card.
- The e-card arrives by post from your insurer.
If you are in a different situation, you must contact the insurance body yourself: a marginal worker below the earnings threshold of €551.10 a month in 2026, a contractor, or a family member of an insured person. A person who is not employed can also be given a number when they join the health insurance, for example through co-insurance with a relative or voluntary insurance. For that you bring a passport or birth certificate, and a marriage certificate if relevant.
What is the e-card, and why does the photo matter?
The e-card is your key to the health system and to ELGA, the electronic health record. Doctors can see data only when you insert the card and agree. Every insured person has their own, children included, and on the back there is a European Health Insurance Card, used for care in other EU countries in the public system.
The thing that trips people up is the photo. If you hold an Austrian passport, ID card, driving licence or a foreigners' register document, the photo comes from that and the card is issued automatically. If you do not, the e-card can only be issued once a photo is on file. You bring a photo to a registration office, or upload it via the e-card portal. While you wait, your insurer can give you a temporary replacement certificate (e-card Ersatzbeleg).
If you are not sure which insurer covers you, or your e-card has not arrived after several weeks, Moovy can help you work out the next step and who to call. It cannot register you with social insurance in your place, but it can give you the checklist.
How do you get a tax number in Austria as a freelancer?
The steps are short:
- Start your activity, usually by registering a trade (Gewerbeanmeldung) or, for some professions, notifying your professional body.
- Request the Steuernummer from the Finanzamt with the Verf 24 form, through FinanzOnline.
- Add a VAT number (UID) if you invoice businesses in other EU countries. Ask for it separately.
- Register with the SVS, the social insurance body for the self-employed, within a month of starting.
The tax office may ask for ID. Keep a record of the date you sent the form, which helps if anything is delayed.
For the tax side, 2026 numbers matter: the income tax threshold is a taxable income of €13,539 a year, below which no income tax is due. The Ministry of Finance publishes the full scale.
What is FinanzOnline, and how do you get access?
FinanzOnline is the tax portal where you file returns, send forms and see your tax assessments. The standard way in is through ID Austria, the national digital identity. You register for it once in person at a registration authority, with ID and a smartphone, and a link to Austria such as your address registration helps.
If you do not have a home in Austria, you can use an eIDAS digital identity from your own country, or get access codes through a video identification procedure. If you do live in Austria, you book an appointment at a tax office instead. The video identification is reserved for people without a home in Austria and does not give you an ID Austria.
Which mistakes happen again and again?
- Looking for a tax number as an employee. You do not need one. Ask your employer instead for a payslip and keep it.
- No photo, no e-card. This is the main reason for delays among new arrivals without an Austrian document.
- Assuming the number comes without a job. Without an employer, no one files your number for you. A person joining the system through co-insurance or voluntary insurance does it with the insurer.
- Forgetting that a tax refund is possible. An employee can file an annual return (Arbeitnehmerveranlagung) and often gets money back, especially in the year of arrival. If you do not apply and only had wages, the tax office may do an automatic assessment in the second half of the following year.
What changes for Swiss and British citizens?
For the social security number and the e-card, Swiss nationals are treated like EU citizens on the Austrian pages. British citizens are third-country nationals since Brexit, and they need a residence title that allows them to work before an employer can register them. After that, the mechanism for the numbers is the same. See moving to Austria from the UK and working in Austria.
What to do this week
If you are an employee: give your employer your ID, ask for your social security number, and bring a photo for the e-card if you have no Austrian document. If you are self-employed: send the Verf 24 as soon as your activity begins, and register with the SVS. In both cases, keep copies of everything. The wider sequence of steps is in our guide to moving to Austria.
What happens with your tax in the year you arrive?
Employees often overpay in the year of arrival. The monthly withholding is calculated as if you had earned the same amount all year, so someone who started in September has had tax taken at a rate designed for a full year of income. The annual employee assessment (Arbeitnehmerveranlagung, form L1) can bring a refund. You can file it for five years back; the assessment for 2025 can be filed until the end of December 2030. If you only had wages and do nothing, the tax office can carry out an automatic assessment in the second half of the following year.
In some cases the assessment is compulsory: above €14,769 of annual income in 2026, for example if you had two salaries or pensions at the same time, or if a tax credit was wrongly applied. Other income, such as rent or freelance work, above €730 a year means you must file a full return (form E1). Keep for seven years the receipts for expenses you deduct.
What if you work for a foreign employer?
If you live in Austria and your employer is abroad, there is no Austrian employer to withhold tax, and the rules for social security and tax depend on EU coordination rules and the tax treaty between Austria and the other country. The first thing to settle is where you pay social security, which the coordination rules decide. Then there is the question of which country can tax your pay. This is a case for a tax adviser (Steuerberater) or a direct question to the tax office, since a wrong guess can mean paying twice or filing late. Our guide on working in Austria explains the cross-border points we can answer.