14. February 2023 More and more transactions are being generated via platforms worldwide. In order to ensure that all taxpayers bear their fair share of the tax burden, cooperation between the competent administrative authorities of the EU Member States in the area of direct taxation is to be strengthened with the help of the DAC7 and the associated registration and reporting obligations.
With the DPMG (Digital Platform Reporting Obligations Act), Directive (EU) 2021/514 on administrative cooperation (DAC7) is implemented by the Austrian legislator.
Relevant to whom?
The scope of application of the DPMG includes platform operators that have their registered office or place of management in Austria. A platform is defined as any software (including a website) that enables providers to be in contact with other users in order to directly or indirectly perform activities that are relevant for payment (such as Willhaben, eBay or Amazon).
The DPMG defines the following activities as relevant:
- The letting and leasing of immovable property (real estate),
- Personal services,
- The sale of goods, as well as
- The rental of any means of transport.
In addition, platform operators from third countries are in principle also subject to the DAC7 reporting obligation if they enable providers to carry out a relevant activity. However, these must not be resident for tax purposes in a third country or be registered under the law of a third country or have the place of management in a third country that has an agreement between the competent authorities requiring the exchange of equivalent information.
Entrepreneurs who use online platforms to offer their activities will in future be requested by the platform operators to share reportable information. This information will be transmitted to the tax authorities. If the tax authorities find discrepancies when checking the information, it can be assumed that there will be an audit with regard to income and turnover tax declarations.
Exceptions
Platforms that offer or advertise the relevant reportable activities themselves exclusively for the processing of payments, as well as redirect or forward users to other platforms, are exempt from the reporting obligation. This includes payment service providers (such as klarna, PayPal, Master Card or Visa), as well as online booking platforms and online shops that are operated by the platform operator for his own company.
Also excluded are state legal entities, listed companies and platform operators that have generated more than 2,000 rentals with an advertised real estate unit in the reporting period.
Very small providers are also covered by the exemption if they have made fewer than 30 sales of goods and the total amount of remuneration does not exceed EUR 2,000.
What needs to be reported?
Due to the reporting obligation, platform operators subject to the reporting obligation have to transmit the following data:
- Personal data of the provider (name, address, tax identification number)
- Financial account information of the provider
- States in which the supplier is established
- Remuneration paid or credited per quarter
- Fees, commissions or taxes withheld per quarter
- If the property is rented or leased, additional information must be provided for each property advertised.
- Address of the property
- Land register entry
- Type of object
- Number of days the property was rented or leased out
What are the deadlines?
Platform operators subject to registration must register once in a Member State of their choice. In the case of registration in Austria, it should be noted that the registration must be made by 31 January 2023 at the latest or, if the activity begins after 31 December 2022, within one month of the start of the activity.
The registration period is the calendar year. The report must be submitted electronically to the tax authorities by 31 January of the following year at the latest. The first report must be submitted by 31 January 2024.
Penalties
A violation of the registration and reporting obligation may result in a fine of up to EUR 200,000 in the case of intent and up to EUR 100,000 in the case of gross negligence. The possibility of an exempting self-disclosure is excluded.
We would be happy to advise you on this topic (info@artus.at).
PS: Please note, that we are no native speakers and that our blogposts were translated with the help of google translate.
