The Austrian federal government presented a package worth €500 million for restaurants and pubs, a press release show.
“The catering industry has been particularly hard hit by the corona crisis and therefore needs special measures. We have put together a package of tax relief on the one hand, and support and incentives on the other”, said Finance Minister Blümel.
What the package includes
The package includes a reduction of tax on non-alcoholic beverages to 10% until the end of 2020. This corresponds to relief of around €200 million. Simplification and relief through higher lump sums was also announced. The lump-sum limit will be increased from €255,000 to €400,000. By increasing the mobility lump sum from 2% to 4% in municipalities with up to 10,000 inhabitants, and to 6% in municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants, more money is made available for rural restaurants and pubs.
Further, the maximum limit for tax-free meal vouchers has been raised from €4.4 to €8, the deductibility of business meals in inns increased from 50% to 75% by raising the applicable rate, and the tax on sparkling wine has been abolished.
“Two brief illustrations: a village inn with a turnover of €115,000 per year currently pays €3,670 in taxes, but with these measures, it will pay only €871. Another example: an inn with an annual turnover of €160,000 currently pays taxes of €6,260 but will only pay €2,390 in future” said Finance Minister Blümel.
The fixed cost subsidy details and changes were presented last week, so that urgently needed monies could reach companies – and especially local landlords – as quickly as possible.
