Stage 03 — Living & Investing
Building wealth under Austrian tax rules.
Once life is settled, the structure of your money matters more than the products in it. Austria taxes investment income at a flat 27.5%, treats funds in a very particular way, and rewards deliberate planning.
Checklist
Living & Investing
Investing
- Use reporting funds (Meldefonds) unless there is a specific reason not to.
- Decide between an Austrian custodian with tax deducted at source and a foreign broker you declare yourself.
- Harvest losses within the calendar year to offset realised gains.
- Keep currency and country exposure aligned with where you will actually spend the money.
Pension and long-term
- Request your Pensionskontoauszug and quantify the gap created by years abroad.
- Compare private pension vehicles against a plain securities account — after costs and tax.
- Coordinate foreign entitlements so nothing is lost or double-counted.
- Revisit the plan whenever income, family or country changes.
Property and protection
- Budget around 10% purchase side costs on top of the price; banks do not finance them.
- Check affordability against the 40% debt-service limit before you make an offer.
- Review income protection and life cover once dependants or a mortgage exist.
- Put a valid will in place that works across the jurisdictions you are connected to.
What goes wrong
The expensive mistakes.
Holding non-reporting funds
The punitive lump-sum taxation of non-reporting funds quietly erodes returns and is entirely avoidable through fund selection.
Confusing a product with a plan
A savings plan, a policy and a fund are instruments. The plan is the sequence: emergency reserve, tax structure, pension gap, then growth.
Leaving cross-border estate questions open
The EU Succession Regulation lets you choose the law of your nationality. Without an explicit choice, the law of your habitual residence applies — often not what families expect.
Run the numbers
Free calculators built on current Austrian rules.
FAQ
Questions we get asked.
In practice: a globally diversified portfolio of reporting funds, held either with an Austrian custodian that deducts KESt at source or with a foreign broker whose income you declare. The structure matters more than the product name.
Where are you in the journey?
Fifteen minutes with a senior advisor. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.