As Leonore Gewessler’s (Greens) Ministry of the Climate announced on Monday, cross-border rail travel would become cheaper, and the change was an “important step” for fairer competition between rail and air travel. The ÖBB promise to pass on the reduction.
Currently, 10 percent sales tax is due for the section of the route in Austria. The level of savings depends on the route and the proportion of routes in Austria. For example, the price for the Salzburg-Munich route will not change, since Salzburg is considered a border station in the fare system, and at the same time the tax savings for Linz-Munich are lower than for Vienna-Munich.
“The abolition of sales tax on cross-border train tickets in Austria is an important step towards making train travel in Europe more attractive and achieving a little more equal opportunities between the different modes of transport,” said ÖBB boss Andreas Matthä about the planned change.
Flights tax-free
“Vienna is already the Nightjet capital in Europe. With many connections to important European cities – from Paris to Brussels to Rome. We want to further strengthen and promote this. The VAT exemption makes a contribution to this. Because the future of short and Medium-haul routes belong to the railways,” said Gewessler.
Compared to the plane, however, the train remains at a disadvantage from a tax point of view. In aviation, there are generally no sales taxes on tickets for international flights. This is regulated worldwide by the aviation organization ICAO of the United Nations (UNO). Due to the ICAO regulations, kerosene is not taxed either. To compensate, some countries, including Austria, have other taxes.
The planned sales tax exemption on international train tickets is part of the Tax Amendment Act 2022, which was sent for review on Monday. According to a resolution in the National Council, the change should come into force on January 1, 2023.
Source: Nachrichten
