Austria Defers $5 Billion of Taxes in Seven Weeks

Austria deferred over 4.6 billion euros ($5 billion) in taxes for nearly 200,000 companies between March 15 and April 30, the finance ministry announced Sunday.

Several financial measures implemented in mid-March were meant to help mitigate the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Companies are allowed to postpone paying certain taxes without accruing interest, and reduce income and corporate tax pre-payments for the 2020 calendar year.

• Three quarters of the companies applying for deferrals are small, with an annual turnover below 700,000 euros. A quarter of the total applications come from businesses with less than 30,000 euros in annual sales.
• As of April 30, the finance ministry had received and processed 190,504 applications for tax deferrals. This is 98% of the total applications.
• Austria, which imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 16, started easing restrictions two weeks ago. All shops are now allowed to reopen with a number of security measures. The country has had 15,597 confirmed coronavirus cases, and 598 deaths.

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