Best Brokers in Austria (2026)

Which Brokers Are Steuereinfach in Austria?

A broker is steuereinfach when it withholds Austrian KESt and offsets your losses inside the same depot. The rates are set by § 27a Abs. 1 EStG: 25% on bank interest (Z 1) and 27.5% on everything else, including dividends, realised gains and fund income (Z 2). With a steuereinfach broker the tax is final and needs no return.

Without it, you report each figure on the E1kv annex, by 30 June of the following year if you file online. The hard part is accumulating ETFs: their yearly deemed distributions come from the OeKB reporting-fund database, not from the broker statement, and the cost basis must be raised by the same amount. A fund that does not report to the OeKB is taxed on 90% of its yearly gain, at least 10% of its value, even if you sell nothing.

Trade Republic is the case that trips people up. It became steuereinfach on 24 April 2025, so advice to file everything yourself is out of date for securities. Its Austrian tax FAQ, read in August 2026, says the 25% on cash interest is not withheld. At 2.50% interest on €10,000, that is €250 of income and €62.50 of KESt you declare yourself each year.

What Does an Order Cost at Each Broker?

Own calculation, 12 October 2026. Cost of one buy order including the exchange fee the broker itself lists: flatex Vienna €5.90 plus 0.04% (minimum €1.80) per flatex.at, DADAT Vienna €3.90 plus 0.10% plus a 0.03% exchange fee (minimum €1.80) and DADAT gettex per its October 2026 fee schedule. Other figures come from the providers' price lists as captured in August 2026. Not included: spreads, currency margins and new-customer offers. The Erste figure comes from a test portal and is not confirmed on the bank's own sheet. Bold: cheapest in the column.

On a single order the neobrokers win at every size: Scalable at €0.99, Trade Republic and Bitpanda at €1. Among fully steuereinfach brokers the cheapest route is DADAT on gettex, at €3.50 up to €2,500 and €5.50 up to €5,000, a flat fee DADAT introduced on 1 July 2026.

On the Vienna exchange, once each broker's own exchange fee is included, DADAT and flatex cost exactly the same at €2,000: €7.70 each. Below that, DADAT is cheaper; above it, flatex is, and at €5,000 the gap is €2.80 per order. Our asset managers guide quotes the commissions alone; this table adds the exchange fees, which is why the flatex figures here are €1.80 or more higher.

For frequent traders the flat rate decides it. Scalable Prime+ at €4.99 a month beats Free Broker from the sixth order of €250 or more in a month, since five orders at €0.99 cost €4.95. That saving only holds if you also budget for the E1kv, because Scalable's Austrian withholding is unconfirmed.

How Much Does a €200-a-Month ETF Savings Plan Cost per Year?

Own calculation, 12 October 2026. A savings plan of €200 a month, 12 executions in one year, portfolio below €50,000. Total = execution fees plus fixed account and custody fees. Not included: fund costs (TER), spreads, the tax itself and new-customer offers. DADAT per its October 2026 fee schedule, flatex per flatex.at, other figures per the providers' price lists of August 2026. The Bank Austria figures come from a test portal and are not confirmed on the bank's own sheet.

A €200-a-month ETF plan costs €0 a year at Trade Republic, Scalable and Bitpanda, and at flatex if your ETF is on its free list. A fully Austrian bank costs €10 (DADAT, free list) to €48 (easybank on standard terms), and Bank Austria about €85 in fixed fees alone.

The tax line changes the ranking. At a non-steuereinfach broker, an accumulating ETF needs an E1kv entry every year. Austrian tax practices quote typically €200 to €500 a year to prepare it. On that basis the true yearly cost of a €0 plan at Scalable or Interactive Brokers is higher than the €23.20 DADAT charges for any ETF outside its free list.

Two dated changes matter here. easybank accepted applications for its €0 depot and account promotion until 30 September 2026; new customers now see the standard 0.12%, minimum €15 per depot. DADAT ends custody fees for existing customers on 1 January 2027, and its website waives the €10 account fee for new customers until the end of 2030.

Which Hidden Broker Fees Do Price Lists Bury?

The headline order price is rarely what a portfolio costs. The two fees that move the total most are currency conversion and the transfer-out fee. A buyer of US shares at flatex pays about 0.4% on each conversion, and it appears in the exchange rate, not on the contract note.

Transfer fees bite when you leave. Austrian law lets the outgoing bank charge per position, so a 12-position depot can cost €180 or more to move. DADAT refunds up to €250 of incoming costs for positions worth at least €2,000, per its website in October 2026. Fractional shares cannot be transferred anywhere and must be sold first, which is a taxable sale.

Which Broker Wins for Which Investor?

No broker wins every situation, and the cheapest one wins fewest of them. The deciding question is usually not the fee but the tax status and the language. A student starting at €25 a month gains more from DADAT's €10 minimum and Austrian cover than from the €1 Trade Republic would save.

For a €50,000 portfolio the custody fee decides. It is €0 at flatex and DADAT, and about €300 a year at Bank Austria on its foreign-securities rate of 0.60%, a test-portal figure not confirmed on the bank's sheet. Erste Selfinvest stays free up to exactly €50,000, then charges 0.216% a year.

What Went Wrong at Austrian Brokers, and What Do You Do?

The pattern across 2025 and 2026: the cheapest broker carried the most tax and service risk. Trade Republic produced reported KESt errors in its first Austrian year, and the tax risk stays with you, not the broker. Its outage on 18 March 2026 lasted about one hour, at the moment volatile markets opened.

If an app failure costs you money, document it at once with timestamps and complain to the broker in writing. The supervisor depends on the licence: the FMA for DADAT, Erste and other Austrian banks, and the German BaFin for flatex, Trade Republic and Scalable.

Leaving Trade Republic carries a tax trap rather than a fee. Outgoing transfers are free, but they do not pass on your acquisition costs. The receiving bank then applies the fallback in § 93 Abs. 4 EStG: the value at deposit minus 0.5% per month held, at least half that value. On a later sale it withholds too much KESt until you prove what you paid.

What Protects Your Depot If a Broker Fails?

Your shares and ETFs are segregated assets: if the broker goes bust, they are handed back, not shared out among creditors. Investor compensation only pays when securities cannot be returned, for example after fraud. Under § 46 Abs. 1 ESAEG, the Austrian scheme pays up to €20,000 per investor, in full for private customers, as of October 2026.

The German scheme behind flatex, Trade Republic and Scalable pays 90% up to €20,000, so the worst case leaves a €2,000 gap. The FMA supervises Austrian brokers and explains the schemes on its securities supervision page. Cash is a separate layer, covered to €100,000 per bank.

Crypto has neither layer. Bitpanda holds coins in trust with a right of separation, which keeps them out of an insolvency, but no scheme pays if they are lost. Before you buy a fund at any broker, check its ISIN in the OeKB database to confirm it is a reporting fund.

What Do You Need to Open a Depot in Austria?

You need to be 18, hold a passport or ID card, and for a steuereinfach broker an Austrian address (the Meldezettel) and your tax details. There is no income minimum and no KSV1870 credit check for a cash depot. Online brokers verify you by video ident in minutes; branch banks take a few days.

The address requirement is not a formality. A steuereinfach broker withholds and reports for the Finanzamt, so it needs an Austrian tax residence. Interactive Brokers and eToro open without one, but then the whole tax return is yours. If you have just arrived, register first; see our Meldezettel guide.

For children, branch banks such as Erste and Raiffeisen offer junior depots opened by a parent; the neobrokers do not, as of August 2026. US citizens and green-card holders face extra FATCA paperwork and are refused by some brokers. Arriving with a foreign depot? Since 1 July 2026, moving it into Austria must be reported to the Finanzamt within one month.

Brokers in Austria: Frequently Asked Questions