found in austria1. Get your ID Austria
Before any office: get the key to all of them. ID Austria is the state digital identity — one setup, and every portal on this checklist opens with the same login: GISA, FinanzOnline, svsGO, USP, JustizOnline.
Setup is one appointment at a registration office (passport + Meldezettel): find your office and prepare here — the page has an English toggle. Already using the full ID Austria? Skip ahead.
2. Which one are you — and register
Austria splits solo self-employment into two worlds, and this decision drives everything after it. Freie Gewerbe (you deliver things that work: code, shops, campaigns, designs) require a trade registration — which also makes you a WKO member: automatic, non-optional, typically €100–300/year (a membership you can't refuse; the one perk worth using is the free legal hotline — details and the pause button in the WKO guide). Neue Selbständige (your output is purely words, knowledge or art: writing, lecturing, research, therapy) need no trade licence at all. Doing both? Run both in parallel — legal. The full 60-second self-test is in the decision guide.
If you're a Gewerbe: register in the GISA — a free 10-minute online form; your ID Austria from step 1 is the login. No agency, no advisor, no office visit. Non-EU citizens: Daueraufenthalt – EU, RWR-Karte plus and Familienangehöriger fully permit self-employment; on a student permit freelancing is generally possible too — protect your permit renewal (study progress, genuinely self-employed setup).
If you're neue Selbständige: nothing to register here — you're done with this step.
3. The "e.U." question: Firmenbuch — optional for most
Seeing "e.U." everywhere and wondering if you missed a founding step? You didn't. Your Einzelunternehmen already exists — e.U. just means the owner is voluntarily registered in the Firmenbuch (commercial register, run by the courts). Registration only becomes mandatory above ~€700,000 revenue; most freelancers never do it.
Worth it voluntarily if you want a protected company name ("Alpine Pixel e.U.") or clients ask for an FN number. Done digitally via JustizOnline or USP's founding wizard. It does not change your taxes, liability or accounting duties.
4. Setting up FinanzOnline
FinanzOnline is the tax authority's portal — you'll use it for the questionnaire, UVA, tax returns and every official letter (they arrive in its "Databox"). It is German-only; no English interface exists.
Log in with your ID Austria from step 1 — access is instant, no separate registration. Once inside, activate email notifications — otherwise Bescheide sit unseen in the Databox and deadlines run anyway.
5. Kleinunternehmerregelung: the €55k decision
Under €55,000 gross annual turnover (the rule since 2025 — ignore articles still saying €35,000) you can invoice without VAT: no UVA filings, no VAT bookkeeping, but also no input-VAT deduction on your own purchases.
- Stay exempt if your clients are consumers or you have few expenses.
- Opt into VAT (Regelbesteuerung) if your clients are businesses (they don't care about your VAT) and you have real input costs — laptops, software, an accountant.
Exceeding the limit by up to 10% once is tolerated until year-end; beyond that, VAT applies immediately.
6. The Finanzamt questionnaire — and the estimate trap
Within a month of starting, tell the tax office you exist: the Betriebseröffnungs-Fragebogen (filed most smoothly via the USP founding service). It asks for your expected turnover and profit — and here sits the trap:
- Estimate too high, and the Finanzamt immediately sets quarterly income-tax prepayments based on your optimism.
- Estimate honestly-conservatively, and you keep your cash flow in year one — the real bill comes with your first tax return anyway.
After processing you receive your Steuernummer. You can generally start working while it's underway — invoices and records just have to be correct from day one.
7. SVS: what you pay now — and the year-3 back-payment
Social insurance (SVS) covers health, pension and accident insurance. Gewerbetreibende are insured automatically from day one. Neue Selbständige must self-report once expected profit crosses the yearly insurance threshold (adjusted annually — roughly €6,600 in 2025).
No registration form here, by the way: for Gewerbetreibende, GISA notifies SVS automatically — the letters just start arriving by post (switch them to digital in svsGO, the SVS online portal).
Minimum first: even at zero profit, Gewerbetreibende pay roughly €160–170/month from registration day (2025/26, adjusted yearly). The part nobody tells you: contributions (~26–27% of profit) are first calculated on a provisional low base. Once your actual profit is known from your tax return — often 1–2 years later — SVS recalculates and sends a Nachbemessung: a back-payment for your successful early years, arriving exactly when you least expect it.
8. Your first invoice: mandatory fields & EU clients
Austrian invoices need: your name & address, the client's, a date, a sequential invoice number, description of the service, amount — and the right VAT treatment:
- Kleinunternehmer: no VAT + a note like "VAT exempt — small business scheme (§ 6 Abs 1 Z 27 UStG)".
- Standard: 20% VAT shown separately; invoices over €400 need extra details (your UID etc.).
- EU business clients: reverse charge — you invoice net, note "Reverse charge", quote both UID numbers, and report the sum in a Zusammenfassende Meldung. For this you need a UID even as Kleinunternehmer (apply via the U15 form — it's free).
9. Your first UVA (if VAT-registered)
The quarterly VAT return (U30) in FinanzOnline: report the VAT you charged, subtract the VAT you paid, pay the difference. Due the 15th of the second month after the quarter. Only a handful of Kennzahlen matter for a service business — 000, 022, 060, 021. Kleinunternehmer: no UVA at all, skip ahead.
Don't want to calculate the Kennzahlen yourself? Tools like useAccount.AI roll your booked invoices up into exactly these numbers each quarter.
10. The tax calendar (and the cash-flow squeeze)
Your recurring dates as a solo founder:
- UVA (if VAT-registered): quarterly under €100k turnover, monthly above — due the 15th of the second month after the period.
- Income-tax prepayments: Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, Nov 15 — they start after your first Bescheid.
- Tax return: the following year (deadlines vary; later with a tax advisor).
- SVS: quarterly bills — end of Feb, May, Aug, Nov.
Founding done? The paperwork never stops — but it can stop being yours.
useAccount.AI books your receipts automatically, prepares your UVA numbers, and explains every scary German letter in English. Built in Vienna, BAO-compliant.
Try it free for 7 days →Status: 2026. All amounts and thresholds are stated as general information and change over time (SVS values adjust yearly). This checklist is careful, but it is not individual tax or legal advice — for decisions about your specific situation, consult a licensed Steuerberater. Residence/visa questions are legal questions: start at the Expat Center Vienna (free, multilingual).