Form L16 a.k.a. Lohnzettel

Form L16, also known as Lohnzettel in Austria. What is it for and what does it consist of? What should I do if my employer refuses to release it?

Lohnzettel is the austrian counterpart of your country’s taxable income statement. It is a document that summarises all your sources of income, tax levies and tax advances. You refer to this document when filing your tax return. It is the core for the calculation of your tax liability and for crucial determining for the amount of your tax refund.

Lohnzettel is issued by the employer after the end of the tax year, which always corresponds to the end of the calendar year with the end of February being the deadline for filing electronically. You are entitled to this document even if your employment lasted less than 1 year.

This document consists of these 3 parts:

1. The general part, which includes the following:

• The number of your austrian tax office
• The social status of the employee
• The employment relationship
• Entitlement to child benefits
• Increased benefits for recipients of pensions
• What municipality you belong to
• Nationality
• Information on the issuer (employer)

2. The tax part, which consists of:

• All of your income (including overtime, bonuses, surcharges, holiday pay)
• Overtime payments
• Compensation for work during national holidays and weekends that are not taxable
• Other income before the deduction of ⅙ if your year’s pay
• Social insurance contributions
• The nontaxable amount for employees working in agriculture and forestry
• Other levies (work abroad, helping in developing countries, work commute expenses, unpaid voluntary contributions, nontaxable levies, taxable levies)
• Income tax
• Employer contributions to pension insurance abroad
• Nontaxable amount taken into account
• Church tax
• Travel expenses to your home country
• Amount of months works

3. The social part, which contains:

• Your social insurance code
• Assigned account number of your employer
• Insurance period
• Claims for extraordinary payments
• Employee’s social status
• The amount of paid social insurance contributions
• Assessment base
• Period of social insurance contribution payments
• Employer address
• Municipality
• Country Note:

Your employer is required to report the amount of your income to the correct tax office in Austria. He has to do so until the end of January of the following year. If the employment relationship lasted less than one year, the employer has to report that fact before one month after the work relationship ended expires. The only exceptions are when the work relationship ended due to health-related issues.

In case your employer refuses to issue the Lohnzettel you can use payslips. They function as an accepted replacement for the Lohnzettel.

Does this concern you? We have an app for your austrian tax return needs. Fill out your form on Neotax.eu.