Austrian Administrative Court Overturns Tax Decision on VAT for Farmer Due to Legal Error

• The Administrative Court made a decision on March 26, 2025, regarding a case involving E S in B, represented by lawyers in Vienna.
• The case concerns a revision against a decision by the Federal Finance Court dated January 29, 2024, related to VAT for 2017 and 2018.
• The contested decision was annulled due to legal errors.
• The state must reimburse the appellant €1,346.40 within two weeks, or face enforcement.
• The appellant is a farmer managing an agricultural business with crop and wine production.
• A 2017 audit report indicated that profits were determined using a partial flat-rate method, but from 2015, they should be calculated using an income-expenditure method.
• In 2019, the appellant submitted VAT returns for 2017 and 2018, claiming compliance with audit findings and submitting monthly VAT pre-registrations.
• The tax office set VAT for 2017 and 2018 differently from the declarations, citing the absence of a written option for standard taxation.
• The appellant argued that monthly VAT pre-registrations from February 2017 served as option declarations, and the crediting of input tax indicated compliance with general VAT rules.

Source: ris.bka.gv.at

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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