Austria’s tax portal FinanzOnline has introduced a new option that allows people to get help with their tax matters from a trusted person – which can be particularly helpful if you find all the forms and German language tricky.
The feature has been available since the beginning of the year. Austria's Ministry of Finance said it was aimed at people who were not comfortable navigating digital systems, and it allows a trusted person to handle certain tax tasks, including tax returns.
What is the new ‘trusted person’ option?
The core idea is simple: instead of paying a professional representative, you can authorise a family member, friend or acquaintance to help you with FinanzOnline processes. This kind of representation is only permitted free of charge, meaning the trusted person cannot be paid for doing it.
Both the person being represented and the representative must be a legal adult.
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Who can be a representative and how many people can they help?
To act as a representative, the trusted person needs an ID-Austria or an EU eID. There is also a cap: one representative can represent a maximum of four people.
This option is not available to everyone.
The person being represented must have only income from employment or receive a pension. In other words, it is aimed at people with relatively straightforward income situations.
How do you grant the authorisation?
The authorisation is made via the form “FONUV1 Unentgeltliche Vertretung in Finanz Online”.
The form is available on the Ministry of Finance website (bmf.gv.at/formulare) or from the tax office (Finanzamt).
Once the represented person has signed the form, the representative uploads it to their own FinanzOnline account under “Vertretungsbeziehung verwalten” (manage representation relationship).
One practical detail: for uploading the signed form, no ID Austria or EU eID is required, according to the Finance Ministry. (The representative still needs ID-Austria or an EU eID to act as a representative in general.)
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Does the representative receive post and official decisions?
There is an important limitation on what this authorisation covers.
The authorisation does not include a delivery authorisation (Zustellvollmacht). That means official decisions and letters are still sent directly to the person being represented.
However, if the person uses electronic delivery, the representative can also view decisions and letters electronically.
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Key vocabulary
die Vollmacht – authorisation / power of attorney
die Vertretung – representation (someone acting on your behalf)
unentgeltlich – free of charge (no payment allowed)
das Finanzamt – tax office
der Bescheid – official tax decision/notice
die Zustellvollmacht – authorisation to receive official post on someone’s behalf
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