Austria's Unusual Approach to Taxing Bitcoin with No Cost Basis

Austria has a unique approach to taxing Bitcoin when there is no cost basis. Unlike some other countries, Austria does not automatically treat the entire sale proceeds as a gain if the acquisition costs are missing.

Instead, the country uses a flat-rate rule for tax deduction. If the Austrian crypto service provider cannot use the actual tax data, they generally apply 50 percent of the sale proceeds as acquisition costs. Capital gains tax of 27.5 percent is then withheld on the remaining flat-rate gain.

This calculation is not automatically final, and a flat-rate deduction generally carries no final settlement effect. Where the actual acquisition costs are documented later, a correction may be required or possible.