Alternative Investments in Austria (2026)

How Is Gold Taxed in Austria: Physical Bars or a Gold ETC?

Our calculation, 14 October 2026, from the EStG and UStG on RIS. The 40% rate is an example marginal income tax rate; yours may be lower or higher. Buying and selling spreads are not included.

Physical gold wins once you hold it for more than one year. A private sale after that is not a speculative transaction under § 31 EStG, so the gain is tax-free. A gold ETC is a security, and its gains are capital income at 27.5%, however long you hold it. On a €2,000 gain that is €0 against €550.

Within the year, the order flips. A short-term gain on physical gold is taxed at your income tax rate, not at 27.5%. The €440 limit in § 31 Abs. 3 is a threshold, not an allowance: at €441 the whole gain is taxable. Losses on speculative transactions cannot be offset against other income (§ 31 Abs. 4).

The purchase is VAT-free for investment gold under § 6 Abs. 1 Z 8 lit. j UStG: bars of at least 995/1000 fineness, and coins of at least 900/1000, minted after 1800, legal tender, priced at most 80% above their gold value. Silver is not covered, so a silver coin carries VAT and starts the race behind.

Where Can You Buy Physical Gold in Austria?

Unverified: custody fees, surcharges and buy-back terms are from the broker-test.at gold comparison of 28 September 2025, not from each seller’s price list. Product sizes are from muenzeoesterreich.at, read 14 October 2026. Check current terms before buying.

Three channels sell physical gold: the state mint Münze Österreich, specialist dealers such as philoro, Ögussa and Gold & Co, and banks such as Erste Bank. The mint sells the Wiener Philharmoniker in sizes from 1/25 to 1 ounce, minted bars from 1 g to 100 g and cast bars up to 1 kg.

Size sets your surcharge. Larger bars cost less per gram above the gold price, while small coins are easier to sell in pieces. Custody is the running cost: about 0.24% to 0.60% a year in the comparison above. A bank safe deposit box or a home safe avoids it, but home storage needs its own insurance check.

Gold held by a provider in digital form is a different product. If you cannot take delivery of specific bars, treat it like paper gold for tax purposes until a tax adviser confirms otherwise. The § 31 advantage depends on owning a physical asset.

Can You Buy Gold Anonymously in Austria?

Only below €10,000 in cash. Under § 365m1 Abs. 2 Z 1 lit. a GewO, traders fall under the anti-money-laundering rules when they accept cash of €10,000 or more. From that point the dealer must identify you. Purchases that are or appear to be linked count together, so splitting one purchase into two does not help.

Below the line, the law does not require ID, but a dealer may ask on its own policy or on suspicion. A card or bank transfer leaves a record whatever the amount. Anonymity at the counter does not change your tax position either: a gain on a sale within one year is still taxable above €440.

Keep the purchase receipt. It is your proof of the purchase date and price, which decides whether a later sale falls inside or outside the one-year period. Without it, you cannot show the tax office that the gain is tax-free.

How Does Crowdinvesting Work Under the Alternativfinanzierungsgesetz?

AltFG read on RIS on 14 October 2026; Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on EUR-Lex.

The Alternativfinanzierungsgesetz lets small companies raise money from the public without a full prospectus. You may invest at most €5,000 per issue within 12 months (§ 3a Abs. 1). More is allowed only if you declare it is at most twice your average monthly net income or at most 10% of your financial assets.

The issuer side is capped too. An AltFG issue may not exceed €2 million in 12 months, and money raised through investments may not exceed €5 million over 7 years (§ 3 Abs. 1). From €250,000, the issuer must publish a checked information sheet, accounts and a business plan, and send them to the VKI (§ 4).

Larger platforms now work under the EU crowdfunding regulation 2020/1503, with an entry test and a 4-day reflection period in which you can cancel without reason. dagobertinvest states that it holds such a licence since 2023; that is the provider’s own claim. Neither regime protects your money if a project fails.

What Happened to Rendity, and What Does It Show?

Rendity, a Vienna property crowdinvesting platform, told investors in February 2026 that it was ending operations. It had not arranged new investments since 2024 and surrendered its trade licences. About 37,000 people had invested more than €157 million in over 220 projects, according to ORF.at.

Investors held qualified subordinated loans to project companies, not claims against the platform. Such a loan cannot be enforced while repaying it would push the borrower into insolvency, and in an insolvency it ranks after all other creditors. So the platform closing does not end the loans, but it removes the party that chased them.

Stiftung Warentest found in 2024 that a little over 40% of the Rendity fundings it studied did not run to plan, and just over half at dagobertinvest. Across the 17 largest platform groups, about 35% were affected. The lesson is sizing: put in only what you could lose entirely, spread over several projects.

Sources: ORF.at, 16 February 2026; broker-test.at, February 2026; test.de, 2 October 2026. The Stiftung Warentest data covers fundings filed with the German regulator from 2015 to 2022.

How Are Subordinated Loans, P2P Loans and Genussrechte Taxed?

Our calculation on €5,000 at 7% interest a year (€350), 14 October 2026. The 40% is an example marginal rate. A P2P platform that sells you securitised notes rather than direct loans can fall under 27.5%; check the product terms.

Most crowdinvesting pays interest on a loan, and § 27a Abs. 2 Z 1 EStG excludes loans that are not bank deals from the 27.5% special rate. That interest is taxed at your income tax rate, up to 55%. On €350 of interest at a 40% marginal rate, you keep €210, not the €253.75 a 27.5% product leaves.

Securities offered to the public are different. A bond sold through a platform to an open group of investors gets the 27.5% rate, and so does a substance Genussrecht that shares in profit and liquidation proceeds (§ 27 Abs. 2 Z 1 lit. c EStG). For nominal Genussrechte that were not publicly offered, the rate is a question for a tax adviser.

Foreign platforms do not withhold Austrian tax, so you declare the income yourself. Employees must file a return once their other income exceeds €730 a year (§ 41 Abs. 1 Z 1 EStG). Our brokers guide explains how the 27.5% KESt works on an ordinary securities account.

How Do You Check a Provider Against the FMA Warning List?

The neutral tool is the FMA. Its company database shows whether a firm may offer a regulated service in Austria. Its investor warnings, also collected on oesterreich.gv.at, name firms that offer licensed business without authorisation. Search the exact name and the website address, because clones copy real brands.

A clean result is not a safety rating. An AltFG issuer needs no FMA licence, so it will not appear in the database at all. For those offers the check is the information sheet the issuer must publish and send to the VKI from €250,000 (§ 4 AltFG). No sheet on an offer of that size is a red flag.

Typical warning signs are guaranteed returns, pressure to decide today, contact by phone or social media, and payment to a private account or in crypto. Physical gold sold for future delivery by an unknown company deserves the same check: a gold claim against an insolvent seller is just another unsecured debt.

Which Alternative Investment Fits Which Goal?

Gold and crowdinvesting answer different questions. Physical gold pays no interest; it is a store of value with the best tax treatment if you hold it past one year. A gold ETC suits shorter holding periods, because its flat 27.5% beats a higher income tax rate on a quick sale.

Crowdinvesting pays interest but carries the risk of a total loss, with no deposit protection and tax of up to 55% on most loan structures. Where you want interest without loss risk, a savings account covered by deposit protection up to €100,000 is the comparison to beat.

Which Rules Protect You as an Investor?

None of these products sits inside the safety nets you may know from a bank. Deposit protection covers bank deposits up to €100,000, and investor compensation covers securities a failed investment firm held for you. Neither pays for a project that fails, a gold price that falls, or a subordinated loan that is never repaid.

If a licensed firm treats you unfairly, complain to the firm first, then to the FMA, which can act against the firm but does not award money. The Schlichtung für Verbrauchergeschäfte mediates consumer disputes free of charge.

Alternative Investments in Austria: Frequently Asked Questions

How Did We Calculate This?