The basics at a glance

A guide

For the construction and operation of a photovoltaic system and an electricity storage system, there are legal and normative requirements to be observed. We have summarized the most important topics and legal bases.

The following questions are detailed information here:

• Which permits are mandatory for the construction and operation of the PV system?
• What trade license does a company need to have in order to be able to plan and set up PV systems?
• Is the proceeds from the electricity fed into the grid taxable?

Approval and notification requirements

Even before setting up a PV system, the following federal and state laws must be observed. Make sure that especially the provincial laws are different in each federal state in Austria.

Federal Laws:

• Trade regulations
• Aviation law
• Water Rights Act
• Homeownership Act

State laws of all nine federal laws:

• Building regulations
• Spatial Planning Act
• Electricity Act
• Conservation Act

Depending on the location or the design of the PV project, it should be checked whether additional permits (e.g. agricultural, monument, road or forest protection law) need to be obtained. Regulations for carports or other technical and normative building standards or other laws are not listed here. A practical short summary can be downloaded from PV-Austria.

Tax liability

When operating PV systems and electricity storage, income tax, sales tax and electricity levy must be taken into account.

Income tax:

Income of natural persons from the feed-in of up to 12,500 kWh of electrical energy from photovoltaic systems is exempt from income tax if the bottleneck output of the respective system does not exceed the limit of 25 kWp.

You can read the entire text of the law here: Income Tax Act 1988

For more information on income tax, see our tax guide below.

Excursus electricity tax:

Since February 14, 2022, there may be a revision of the Electricity Tax Act. Section 2 (4) now states that all renewable electricity producers are exempt from the electricity tax on electricity they generate and consume themselves.

A correspondingly adapted implementation regulation is still pending. It has not yet been regulated whether PV systems with a self-consumption of the generated PV electricity of more than 25,000 kWh per year are required to be reported to the tax office or to be recorded. Unfortunately, the tax office does not yet have a suitable form for the declaration. However, this can be sent informally via FinanzOnline (under the item Other Services / Other Applications / Other Submissions & Inquiries).