Inheritance Tax in Austria: Why It Was Abolished (and What Real Estate Still Costs)

Austria has no inheritance tax. The Erbschaftssteuer (inheritance tax) and Schenkungssteuer (gift tax) were abolished for any Steuerschuld (tax liability) arising after 31 July 2008, so someone who inherits cash, securities, a car, or most household belongings today pays nothing to the Finanzamt on the inheritance itself.

That is the clean answer, but it is not the whole picture. If the estate includes real estate in Austria, the transfer still triggers two separate costs: Grunderwerbsteuer (real estate transfer tax) and a Grundbuch (land register) registration fee. Both apply whether the property passes by inheritance, by a compulsory share payment, or as a gift between family members. This page explains what the 2008 abolition actually covers, and what a family inheriting a house or apartment in Austria should expect to pay.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Austrian law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Why Austria Has No Inheritance Tax

The Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuergesetz 1955 (ErbStG), Austria's inheritance and gift tax law, is still on the books at RIS, the Rechtsinformationssystem, but it no longer produces any tax. The Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) struck down the inheritance tax provision in BGBl I 9/2007 and the gift tax provision in BGBl I 39/2007, both on the basis that the outdated property valuation method the law relied on was unconstitutional.

Parliament did not rewrite the valuation rules and reintroduce the tax afterward. The consolidated RIS text of the ErbStG now states plainly that levies under the law are nicht mehr erhoben (no longer collected) for any Steuerschuld arising after 31 July 2008. In practice, the tax has not existed for anyone who died or received a gift on or after 1 August 2008.

What the Abolition Actually Covers

The 2008 change removed tax on the act of inheriting or receiving a gift itself. There is no Austrian tax return that reports an inheritance as taxable income, and no percentage of an inheritance is owed to the state simply because it passed from one person to another.

This covers cash, bank deposits, securities, vehicles, jewelry, and most household contents. It does not mean an estate closes without any state imposed cost, though. Where the estate contains real estate, a different tax regime, one that was never abolished, takes over.

The Real Cost: Inherited Real Estate

Austria taxes gratuitous transfers of land, including transfers by Erbanfall (inheritance), by Vermächtnis (bequest), and by satisfying a Pflichtteilsanspruch (compulsory share claim), under the Grunderwerbsteuergesetz 1987 (GrEStG), the same law that taxes ordinary property sales. § 7 Abs 1 GrEStG treats these as unentgeltliche (gratuitous) acquisitions and applies a graduated rate to the Grundstückswert (a statutory property value) rather than to a purchase price.

The graduated rate for gratuitous transfers is set out below.

Each band applies only to the portion of value that falls inside it, the same way an income tax bracket works. A property with a Grundstückswert above 400,000 euros does not pay 3,5% on the whole value, only on the amount above 400,000 euros.

Worked Example

Assume a family inherits an apartment with a Grundstückswert of 500,000 euros. The Grunderwerbsteuer is calculated in three slices: 0,5% of the first 250,000 euros (1,250 euros), 2% of the next 150,000 euros (3,000 euros), and 3,5% of the remaining 100,000 euros (3,500 euros). The total Grunderwerbsteuer comes to 7,750 euros.

Many inherited homes are smaller than that and never reach the higher bands at all. For an apartment with a Grundstückswert of 180,000 euros, the entire value sits in the first band, so the Grunderwerbsteuer is simply 0,5% of 180,000 euros, or 900 euros.

The Grundbuch Registration Fee

A second cost applies once the heir is entered in the Grundbuch (land register) as the new owner. Under the Gerichtsgebührengesetz (GGG), Tarifpost 9 lit b Z 1, registering a change of ownership costs 1,1% of the value of the right being entered.

Continuing the same example, registering the 500,000 euro apartment costs 5,500 euros (1,1% of 500,000 euros). Combined with the Grunderwerbsteuer of 7,750 euros, this family's total state imposed cost on inheriting the apartment is 13,250 euros, split across two separate charges rather than one inheritance tax bill. For the smaller 180,000 euro apartment above, the registration fee is 1,980 euros (1,1% of 180,000 euros), for a combined total of 2,880 euros.

How This Differs from Germany

Searches about Austrian inheritance tax often surface results written for German law, and the two systems are not the same. Germany still levies an Erbschaftsteuer under its own federal law, with rates that rise with both the size of the inheritance and how distantly the heir is related to the deceased, and Germany has never abolished it.

Austria abolished its equivalent tax entirely in 2008 and has not reintroduced any version of it since. The only cost an Austrian estate can still face is the real estate cost described above, and that cost applies the same way regardless of how closely the heir was related to the deceased, unlike Germany's relationship-based tax brackets.

When These Costs Are Assessed

Inherited real estate in Austria does not change hands automatically. Under § 797 ABGB, an heir may not simply take possession; the property passes only once the Verlassenschaftsverfahren (estate proceeding) concludes with the court's Einantwortung. That proceeding is opened by the district court of its own motion under § 143 Abs 1 AußStrG, and the practical work, including the Todesfallaufnahme (inventory of the estate under § 145 Abs 1 AußStrG), is carried out by a notary acting as the court's Gerichtskommissär under §§ 1 and 2 GKoärG.

Once the Einantwortung is issued, § 819 ABGB requires the heir to have the new ownership entered in the Grundbuch, which is the point at which the registration fee and the Grunderwerbsteuer assessment become due. The probate process page covers this proceeding step by step, including how long it typically takes.

Gifts Are Treated the Same Way

The 2008 abolition covered gift tax as well as inheritance tax, but gifts of real estate to close family are not free of cost either. Close family transfers are treated as gratuitous even during the giver's lifetime, so a parent who signs a house over to a child while still alive faces the same Grunderwerbsteuer bands and the same 1,1% registration fee an heir would face. There is no separate gift tax bill, but there is no way to avoid the real estate costs by gifting the property early instead of leaving it in a will.

The Grundstückswert Is Not the Market Price

The Grundstückswert used for both calculations above is a statutory formula value, not the price the property would fetch on the open market. Depending on the property, it can be calculated from a fixed formula tied to the land and building value or from a comparable multiplier of the standard assessed value, and the exact method is set out in separate valuation rules this page does not attempt to spell out in full.

Because the method depends on the type of property and how it was acquired, a family expecting a real estate tax bill should ask the notary handling the estate, or a tax adviser, to calculate the specific Grundstückswert rather than assuming it matches an online valuation or the price paid when the property was originally bought.

Inheritance tax is a separate question from who is entitled to inherit in the first place. For the rules on which family members must receive a share of the estate regardless of what the will says, see the compulsory share page.