Input tax on hotel expenses and overnight accommodation costs
The option to deduct input tax applies to domestic trips that are occasioned exclusively by the business. Pro rate input tax amounts can be deducted from the blanket per diem and overnight accommodation costs for input tax purposes (section 13 of the Umsatzsteuergesetz - UStG). Use may only be made of this law where travel takes place in Austria, and the following procedures have been complied with: The hotel expenses and overnight accommodation costs must be viewed as gross amounts; the deductible input tax included must be deducted using the 10 per cent tax rate.
Caution
In general, these rules also apply to entrepreneurs from EU Member States in Austria.
The hotel expenses covering the subsistence allowances incurred during a trip can be used as the basis for deducting input tax up to the statutory lump sum amount (factored if necessary) using the 10 per cent tax rate (9.0909 per cent of the gross amount).
Example
A trader travels from Vienna to Villach in Carinthia at 8:00 on Monday morning to conclude a contract there. Negotiations prove to be lengthy and the trader does not return to Vienna until around 14:15 the following day. The entrepreneur is due the following during this trip: 1 daily rate in the full amount of 26.40 Euro and an aliquot amount of 15.40 Euro (7/12 x 26.40 Euro) and a blanket overnight stay charge of 15 Euro, totalling 56.80 Euro ( incl. 10 per cent VAT on food). In accounting terms, the lump-sum travel costs come to a net amount of 51.64 Euro; input tax of 5.16 Euro can be claimed.
Instead of the blanket overnight stay charge, the actual overnight costs, including breakfast, in accommodation chosen by the entrepreneur can also be used to calculate the input tax deduction. An invoice that meets the requirements of section 11 of the UStG is, of course, required for this purpose (cf. "Formal requirements of an invoice"). A similar legal regulation applies in cases where the employer sends an employee on trips: Input tax can only be deducted from the statutory hotel expenses and overnight accommodation costs. In the event of an overnight stay, the actual expenses can again optionally be used for the purposes of input tax deduction, whereby it makes no difference whether the invoice for the accommodation is drawn up in the name of the entrepreneur or the employee.
Input tax can only be deducted where a document is produced, which provides information about the time, destination and purpose of the trip, the person in question and the amount; the input tax is calculated using this document (section 13 paragraph 4 of the UStG). Since documents of this kind must be available in any case in accounting or in the records, it is not necessary to draw up separate documents for VAT purposes.
Legal bases
- Sections 11 and 13 of the Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG)
- Lohnsteuerrichtlinien 2002 (LStR 2002)
- Rz 1369 and Rz 2201 of the Umsatzsteuerrichtlinien 2000 (UStR 2000)
Responsible for the content: Federal Ministry of Finance
