Special expenses – What claims may be asserted in the employee tax assessment? | Austrian Tax Book 2026

A. Special expenses

What are special expenses?

The Austrian Income Tax Act 1988 (Einkommensteuergesetz) lists certain private expenses that are taxed at preferential rates. If the listed expenses are simultaneously income-related expenses or operating expenses, they are deductible as such.

An unlimited or a limited amount may be claimed for the following special expenses:

Certain pensions and permanent burdens (e.g. benefit pension, life annuity, retirement pension, consideration pension, maintenance pension, mixed pension) to an unlimited amount. Pensions and permanent burdens are regularly recurring benefits which are paid on the basis of a uniform and legally enforceable obligation and whose duration depends on the occurrence of an uncertain event such as the death of a person. Where pensions are paid as a taxable consideration for the transfer of assets (e.g. a house), only those pensions that exceed the value of the asset and are reasonable in amount are deductible.
Contributions to voluntary continued insurance, including the subsequent acquisition of insurance periods, to unlimited amounts.
Church tax payments—up to a maximum amount of €600.
Tax-consultancy costs—in an unlimited amount.
Donations to humanitarian institutions (charitable organisations, development aid or disaster relief organisations).
Donations to volunteer fire departments and regional fire-fighting associations.

Donations are deductible only to the extent that they do not exceed 10% of total earnings for the year of assessment. Preferentially taxed remunerations (e.g. holiday pay, Christmas bonus) are not taken into account when calculating the maximum amount for special expenses.

Note

Special expenses for voluntary continued insurance (including the subsequent acquisition of insurance periods) under the statutory social security pension scheme, church tax payments and deductible donations will be sent electronically directly to the tax administration by the receiving organisation. Hence, these no longer need to be asserted in the tax return. In order to send these, you must provide the organisation with your first and last name and date of birth. This information is encrypted in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations and to be used only by the tax office for the purpose of consideration in the assessment. Therefore, receipts relating to these special expenses do not need to be retained.

When may special expenses be claimed?

Generally, the relevant point in time is when the payment is made. The unlimited contributions to a voluntarily continued insurance coverage (subsequent acquisition of insurance periods) can be split over ten years upon application.

Can payments made for other persons be claimed as special expenses (extended circle of persons)?

Contributions to continued payments to the statutory social security scheme, subsequent acquisition of insurance periods for time spent at school, self-insurance of relatives and church tax payments are also deductible if made for a spouse/registered partner not living separated on a permanent basis or for a child for which there is an entitlement to child deduction or support money deduction. The same applies to a partner in a domestic partnership with child.

What procedure must be followed to claim special expenses?

You can claim your special expenses in the course of your employee tax assessment. Keep your receipts for a period of seven years, since they may have to be shown to your tax office on request. Vouchers of electronically communicated special expenses do not need to be retained.

Notes on Supplement L 1d 2025

In the following cases, please fill in Supplement L 1d to Form L 1 for consideration of special expenses:

for tax advisory fees

for pensions or long-term expenses

for foreign donations/foreign church tax payments

for subsequent acquisition of insurance periods and voluntary continued insurance

when considering a contribution to a domestic church or religious community, if the data transfer differs

for compulsory pension contributions in the case of leisure activities and for non-business-related carry-forward of allowances

for special expenses deduction of business donations and correction of a special expenses data transmission for business donations (only as a Supplement to Form E1)

For more information, please refer to the instructions for completing Supplement L 1d (L1d-Erl-2025).