Booking artists from abroad in Austria: tax and invoices

If you book an artist who lives abroad for a show in Austria, say a DJ from Berlin or a live act from London, you keep 20% of every payment as Austrian artist tax (Abzugsteuer) and pay it to the tax office by the 15th of the following month (§§ 99 to 101 EStG). Costs you cover, such as a flight or the hotel, count too. The invoice comes without Austrian VAT: you owe it yourself under reverse charge and usually deduct it again straight away. Everything below is the state as of 1 October 2026, with a worked example for a DJ from Berlin further down.

Who it applies to and who withholds

The tax covers people without a home in Austria who earn money here with self-employed work as artists or as participants in entertainment, no matter who the fee is paid to (§ 99 Abs. 1 Z 1 EStG). DJs are included: they take part in the entertainment and shape it with their music.

The artist owes the tax. But if you pay the fee, you withhold it, pay it over and are liable for it (§ 100 Abs. 2 EStG). If nothing was withheld, the tax office can collect the amount from you.

If you pay an agency abroad, the tax concerns the part of the fee that goes on to the artist. An agency that only books doesn’t take part in the show itself. You can limit the withholding to the artist’s share only if you have the artist’s name and address and the amount passed on in writing (§ 5 DBA-Entlastungsverordnung, EStR Rz 8013). Otherwise you withhold from the full amount.

How much: gross or net

The law offers two ways (§ 99 Abs. 2 and § 100 Abs. 1 EStG):

What counts in the base. Under gross taxation, everything the artist receives for the show counts: the fee and every cost you take over or pay back, including a flight or hotel you pay directly. Only VAT stays out; reimbursed travel and daily allowances stay in. With a landed fee, the whole fee is the base, including the part meant for travel.

What can be deducted net. Travel to the show, the return trip only if it doesn’t lead on to the next show abroad, hotel nights and daily allowances, and fees the artist pays to others performing in the same show (EStR Rz 8006c). The artist sends you the costs in writing with receipts before you pay, plus a statement of any Austrian income already earned that year (for the €20,000 limit). You don’t have to apply net taxation: because you are liable, you may withhold gross. The artist can then still apply for an assessment (form E 7, within five years, § 102 Abs. 1 Z 3 EStG). For an artist from London only the gross route is open, as the United Kingdom is in neither the EU nor the EEA.

Say in the offer whether the fee is before or after artist tax. If you promised the full amount, you carry the tax, and it is grossed up: 25% of what you pay out instead of 20% of the fee.

When and how to pay it

• With every payment. The tax arises when the money reaches the artist (§ 100 Abs. 4 EStG). Withhold 20% from the deposit too, not only from the balance.
• By the 15th of the next month. Pay everything withheld in a month as one amount, labelled “Steuerabzug gemäß § 99 EStG”, to your tax office (the Finanzamt Österreich, or the Finanzamt für Großbetriebe if that is yours).
• With form E 19. By the same date, report the base and the tax withheld (§ 101 Abs. 3 EStG).
• Records. Payment date, amount and the date you paid the tax over (§ 101 Abs. 2 EStG); for net taxation also the artist’s notice, the income statement and copies of the receipts (EStR Rz 8014).
• A statement for the artist. Send the artist side what you withheld and when you paid it over, for their own tax return.

Small fees: the Künstler-Sportler-Erlass

For small amounts you may skip the withholding, as long as a later assessment wouldn’t produce Austrian tax anyway. The conditions in the Ministry of Finance decree (31 October 2005, last amended on 10 March 2011):

• The artist is an individual and gets a fee of at most €1,000 from you. Costs that count as business expenses (travel, hotel, a daily allowance for up to five days in one place) come on top and don’t count towards the limit.
• The artist declares in writing that their taxable income in Austria for the calendar year won’t exceed €2,000 in total. For 2026 the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) uses the indexed figure of €2,463, the current filing threshold for non-residents (§ 42 Abs. 2 EStG); the decree itself says €2,000. When in doubt, go by the lower figure.
• You keep the declaration, proof of identity (such as a copy of the passport) and the artist’s home address on file.

Since the 2011 amendment it covers everyone performing under § 99 Abs. 1 Z 1 EStG, so DJs at club nights too. It doesn’t apply if the declaration is obviously wrong to you. If it only turns out wrong later, the tax office can assess the tax on the artist directly (§ 100 Abs. 3 EStG). In practice it fits a warm-up slot or a support act from a neighbouring country, rarely a headliner.

Double tax treaties rarely help

Almost all of Austria’s double tax treaties contain an artist clause: the country where the show takes place may tax it. That includes the treaties with Germany and the United Kingdom, so the tax is usually due even with a treaty. There are exceptions: the treaty with Hungary has no artist clause, and under the treaty with Germany a performance is taxed only where the artist lives if the visit is funded wholly or mainly from German public money or by a recognised non-profit body (Art. 17 Abs. 3).

Where treaty relief applies, you may reduce or skip the withholding when you pay, but you don’t have to (DBA-Entlastungsverordnung). You need form ZS-QU1 (individuals) or ZS-QU2 (companies) with the residence certificate of the artist’s tax authority, in the original, on paper or with a qualified electronic signature. Up to €10,000 per recipient and calendar year, a written declaration with the details listed in § 2 Abs. 2 of the regulation is enough. If the paperwork falls short, the risk is yours. If you withhold in full, the artist can claim the tax back later.

VAT: reverse charge

A service bought by a business is taxed where that business is based (§ 3a Abs. 6 UStG), so for your show in Austria. As the artist has no business or permanent establishment here, you owe the VAT (§ 19 Abs. 1 UStG).

• The invoice comes net, with your VAT ID (UID-Nummer), the artist’s and a note that the tax liability passes to you (§ 11 Abs. 1a UStG). If it shows VAT anyway, whoever issued it owes that VAT and you can’t deduct it: ask for a corrected invoice.
• You report the VAT in your VAT return at the rate for the service: 13% for work as an artist (§ 10 Abs. 3 Z 4 UStG), otherwise 20%. In the same return you deduct it as input tax if you are fully entitled to (§ 12 Abs. 1 Z 3 UStG). The net effect is zero.
• This works if you book as a business. If you are not a business for VAT, for example an association without business activity, the service is taxed where the show takes place and the artist side owes Austrian VAT. Have that checked.

What belongs on the offer and the invoice

When the invoice comes from an agency, check these points:

• Who invoices. Name and address of the artist and of the agency, and in whose name the invoice is issued.
• Fee and costs apart. The deal type in words, the fee and each cost on its own line, so you can read off the base.
• Before or after artist tax. A line such as “Fee before artist tax; 20% withheld under § 99 EStG” saves an argument at the settlement.
• The artist’s share. If an agency abroad invoices and only that share is to be taxed, you need the amount passed on in writing.
• VAT. No Austrian VAT; both VAT IDs and the reverse-charge note instead.
• Payments. Deposit and balance with dates. Each payment gets its own withholding.

If an agency in Austria invoices in its own name, put in the contract who withholds and pays the tax, so it is neither missed nor done twice. On shows booked through infract, the artist tax is already on the offer. What every invoice must contain is in the glossary.

Example: a DJ from Berlin in Vienna

Say a 600-capacity club in Vienna books [Artist A], a DJ living in Berlin, for €3,000 landed. The artist side books the flights out of the fee (€320 return); the club pays the hotel directly (€180). The fee is agreed before artist tax, with 50% due when the contract is signed in May and the balance after the show in June.

Gross. On the €1,500 deposit the club withholds €300 and transfers €1,200; the €300 goes to the tax office by 15 June. With the balance in June it withholds 20% of €1,680 (the rest of the fee plus the hotel), so €336, transfers €1,164 and pays the €336 over by 15 July. Together that is €636.

Net. As Berlin is in the EU, the artist side can report the flight and hotel with receipts before the first payment and confirm that its Austrian income this year stays under €20,000. The tax is then €536, €100 less. Whether €100 is worth collecting receipts before the first payment is the artist side’s call.

Full amount promised. Had the club promised €3,000 with no deduction, it would carry the tax itself: 25% of €3,180, so €795.

VAT. The invoice reads €3,000 net under reverse charge; the club reports and deducts the Austrian VAT in the same return.

Checklist

• Where is the artist resident for tax: the EU or EEA, or elsewhere? It decides whether net taxation is possible.
• In the offer: fee before artist tax, the deal type and who covers which costs.
• Small fee: get the declaration, proof of identity and address for the Künstler-Sportler-Erlass.
• Net taxation wanted: ask for the costs with receipts and the Austrian income statement before the first payment.
• A treaty applies: ZS-QU1 or ZS-QU2 in the original, or up to €10,000 a year the written declaration.
• Exchange VAT IDs, then check the invoice: net, both VAT IDs, the reverse-charge note, fee and costs apart.
• Withhold 20% from every payment, the deposit included, and pay it over by the 15th of the next month with form E 19.
• Report the reverse-charge VAT and deduct it as input tax in the same return.
• Keep the records and receipts, and send the artist side a statement.

The other way round: Austrian artists in Germany

When an artist from Austria plays in Germany, the German promoter withholds German artist tax (Ausländersteuer, § 50a EStG): 15% plus a 5.5% solidarity surcharge on that, 15.825% of the fee in total. What differs from Austria:

• Threshold. Up to €250 per performance nothing is withheld. Above that, the whole fee is taxed.
• Travel. Travel and hotel the promoter pays or reimburses at actual cost stay out of the base, meals up to the flat rates. Travel inside a landed fee is taxed with it.
• Net. Artists resident in the EU or EEA can have costs deducted; the rate is then 30% (15% for companies).
• Filing. Quarterly, by the 10th of the month after the quarter, electronically with the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt).
• Back in Austria. Under the treaty, Germany may tax the performance fee; Austria leaves that income out and only takes it into account for the rate on other income (Art. 17 and 23 of the treaty with Germany).
• Künstlersozialabgabe. Promoters who are liable also pay the Künstlersozialabgabe: 4.9% of the fee in 2026 and 5.0% from 2027, for artists from abroad too, with the withheld tax included in the base. It is the promoter’s own cost, on top of the fee.
• VAT. The invoice goes out net under reverse charge; the German promoter owes the German VAT (§ 13b UStG).

This is general information, not tax advice. Check your case with a tax adviser.