Austria’s €2 parcel tax starts on 1 October: check who is liable
The €100 million threshold concerns Austrian distance sales, with special rules for marketplaces. UK sellers should check who is liable before changing prices; this is not a blanket tax on every small shop’s parcels.
- Who this affects
- UK businesses selling goods to Austrian consumers, particularly large distance sellers and retailers using facilitating marketplaces. Direct liability depends on the Austrian-sales threshold and selling model.
- Seller action
- Check before sending affected goods
Identify the liable seller or platform, test the €100 million Austrian-sales threshold and check payment-acceptance records. If directly liable, arrange reporting and any required Austrian fiscal representative; do not automatically add €2 to every order.
- Effective dates / current position
- Austrian parcel-delivery tax applies: — Upcoming—not yet in forceTiming follows the confirmed published schedule; it is not a fresh legal review. The tax applies to covered deliveries where liability arises after 30 September. Payment acceptance determines the tax point. Vienna calendar time is used for the date-only display, not as a carrier cutoff. Date-only changes use the calendar day in Europe/Vienna.
- Last reviewed
- 30 Sept 2026 — an editorial source check, separate from automatic timing.
- Official source
- Open the primary source ↗
Updates to this article
First published after checking the enacted Parcel Delivery Tax Act, including commencement, and current Austrian Finance Ministry guidance. Distinguished the Austrian-sales threshold, marketplace attribution and payment acceptance from a blanket parcel charge or the separate EU handling fee.
What starts on 1 October?
Austria’s Parcel Delivery Tax Act applies from 1 October 2026 to covered parcel deliveries in Austria where the tax liability arises after 30 September. The rate is €2 per delivered parcel. A liable seller may instead calculate €2 per qualifying order, but must use that choice for every order in the filing period.
This is an Austrian national tax, not the separate EU ecommerce handling fee. It is not limited to parcels imported from outside the EU or to goods worth €150 or less.
Who is responsible?
The threshold is distance-sales turnover in Austria exceeding €100 million in the preceding financial year, not worldwide turnover. The seller’s country of establishment does not decide whether it is liable. Ordinary business-to-business and private-to-private sales are outside the tax; the detailed consumer-recipient rules follow Austrian VAT definitions.
Where a marketplace facilitates the sale, Austria treats that platform as the supplier for this tax. Those sales count towards the platform’s threshold. A small seller therefore should not assume its marketplace orders are outside the measure just because its own business is below €100 million. Merely displaying an advertisement is not enough to make a platform the supplier.
Payment acceptance matters—not the delivery date alone
The tax point is acceptance of payment: the earliest receipt of payment confirmation, authorisation or the customer’s commitment to pay. It is not necessarily the day money reaches the bank account.
For example: a covered order whose payment was accepted on 25 September does not enter this tax simply because its parcel arrives on 3 October. The commencement provision follows when liability arises.
What should UK retailers check?
- Separate direct and marketplace sales. Identify which business is treated as the seller and whose Austrian turnover must be tested.
- Check platform terms before adding a customer charge. Tax liability does not establish whether, or how, a marketplace will pass a cost to you.
- If directly liable, prepare records and reporting. Returns are quarterly through FinanzOnline, with filing and payment due by the end of the following month. Keep the required records for seven years.
- Check representation. A liable business with no seat, management location or fixed establishment in the EU/EEA must appoint an authorised Austrian fiscal representative in good time before its first return. This is not a new requirement for every small UK exporter.
Use the official guidance with your Austrian tax adviser for unusual fulfilment models. Do not treat this article as a product-by-product tax ruling.
Official sources
- Austrian Finance Ministry: parcel delivery tax FAQs — scope, marketplace attribution, payment acceptance and commencement examples.
- BGBl. I 62/2026, Article 44: Parcel Delivery Tax Act — sections 2–5, 6–10, 13 and 17 set the threshold, charge, duties and commencement.
- Austria’s Business Service Portal: parcel tax — official business guidance.