Austria: Country and Foreign Investment

Austria History, Population, Language and Culture

The first Austrian Republic was created after the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War in 1918. In 1938, Austria was annexed to Greater Germany and was occupied by allied forces after the end of World War II until 1955, when a treaty between allied forces and Austria was signed to re-establish an independent and democratic Austria. In the same year, the Austrian parliament announced permanent neutrality for the country. Since then, Austria has been a parliamentary democracy made up of nine states.

In 1995, Austria joined the EU on condition that no foreign troops would be stationed within the country.

Today, Austria has a population of around 8.3m people and is considered to be a wealthy country with a good standard of living. German is the official language and is spoken by the majority of Austrians.

Austria is famous throughout the world for its wonderful mountainous scenery and has a strong tourist industry built around winter sports and walking holidays. In addition, Austria has a rich musical and cultural history that also attracts many visitors to the country.

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Austria Government

Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states (Bundesländer). The National Council (Nationalrat) is made up of 183 directly elected members. In addition, there is the Federal Council (Bundesrat) to which members are appointed by the states.

Elections for the head of state take place every six years, while elections for the National Council take place every four years. The last parliamentary election took place in 2008 and no political party received more than 30% of the national vote.

Presidential elections were last held in April 2010 and the then president, Heinz Fischer, secured a second term.

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Austria Economy and Currency

Austria’s close economic ties with Germany meant that the credit crunch had serious effects on the country and the economy shrank by 3.4% in 2009. A subsidised reduced working hour scheme, enabling companies to retain employees during the economic downturn, resulted in a slower rise in unemployment compared to most other European countries and is at 5%

The Federal States have declared themselves to be against a local income tax to generate more funds, but are strongly in favour of a worldwide tax on financial transactions.

Around 70% of the country’s workforce is employed in the service and tourism sector.

The currency is the Euro (EUR).

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Austria Entry and Residence

Nationals of EU/EEA and Switzerland may live and work in Austria for up to three months without the need to register. After that period, individuals are required to register and provide proof of employment as well as health insurance and proof of sufficient income to support themselves and any dependants.

Nationals from the rest of the world must register with the relevant authorities within three days of taking up residence.

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Austria Business Environment

Austria is an industrialised and very developed nation with a large service sector. Most people, especially the younger generation, speak English.

Austria has always had close links to eastern European countries and has benefited from these links since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many businesses have relocated from Eastern Europe to Austria in the past number of years.

Among the major Austrian companies are the Red Bull drinks label and Swarovski crystal.

Worldwide, Austria has the highest number of graduates from secondary education; the workforce is regarded as reliable and highly motivated. Industrial action is almost non-existent.

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Austria Investment Incentives

There are a number of investment incentives available to investors in small and medium-sized businesses in Austria. They include:

The purchase of so-called “young shares” is deductible from income provided they are kept for 10 years.

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