Paying taxes for your income in Austria:

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1 Paying taxes for your income in Austria: There are two different ways to pay taxes, if you work as a sexworker: 1) AS AN EMPLOYEE: When you are working as a sexworker and you are employed, then your employer has to report to this and automatically it will be taken care of your insurance. If you want to have further answers about this kind of employment, please inform yourself at the taxes offices. 2) WORKING SELF-EMPLOYED: The following information is all about this specific form of work. When you are starting your self-employment as a sexworker, you have to report this to the taxes office (Finanzamt) within a month. To complete this task you have to fill out the form Verf. 24 (you can do this either online or by going to the taxes offices). Then you get a stamp as a sign of confirmation. Please make sure to make yourself a copy of your confirmed form. If you get controlled, show your copy. Once in a year the taxes offices needs to know, how much you earned the year before. This task you can complete with the form Einkommenssteuererklärung (EST), which you need to fill out. So in the year 2014 you can make an EST for the year Only then you can tell, what you ve earned. So it is important to take notes on every income you have, like shown in the example below. Earnings: You can take notes about your earnings for example by writing them down in a regular calendar (-like shown below). The following things are important to write down: Every single customer Date Time Earnings Monday Customer 1: 13:00 13:30 80,- Customer 2: 17:00 18:00 150,- Tuesday Customer 1: 14:00 15:00 200,- Wednesday Thursday Customer 1: 20:00 20:30 100,- Friday Saturday Sunday Total: 230,- Total: 200,- Total: 100,- 1

2 Costs: Make sure to keep every bill in it s orginal form! For example from: Paid dues of social insurance driving (public transportation, gas, vignette, ) Rent (at your work) Medical costs for the obligatory examination Clothing for work (like special underwear) Condoms How does an EST work: Cash accounting: All earnings of the year minus every confirmable cost of a year Example: Earnings ,- Costs ,- Profit ,- = This is the profit, for which you have to pay taxes. Important information: In this calculation you can only throw in the costs, which you had because of your work. Private costs have to stay out (for example: the rent for your apartment). OR: If you didn t collect any bills, you still have the possibility to make some costs count even without any bills. So the own profit is reduced and you have to pay less taxes. All earnings of the year minus 12% (this is a flat charge as alternative to the bills) minus every payment you did to the SVA for your social insurance = This is the profit, for which you have to pay taxes. Example: Earnings - 12% (flat charge) - Payment to social insurance = Profit To make an EST there is an extra form. You can either get it at the taxes offices or on the internet. After you ve filled it out, you have to send it back to the taxes offices. If you don t know what to do or how to fill it out, please contact a counselling center or a person, who has specialized in working with taxes Steuerberater_in. 2

3 How much do you have to pay? 1,- to ,-/per year you DON T have to pay taxes If you profit is over ,-/per year you have to pay taxes Example: You profit of one year is ,-, but only ,-/per year is tax free. So you ll have to pay taxes for 4.000,- of your profit. Relevant percentages of taxes: EUR 0,-- to EUR ,-- no income tax EUR ,01 to EUR ,-- 36,5 % of income tax EUR ,01 to EUR ,-- 43,2143% of income tax over EUR ,-- 50% of income tax Insurance: Additionally to the taxes offices, you have to report to the insurance company SVA, that you have started working as a self-employed sex-worker. The needed form Versicherungserklärung you can find here: &action=b&cacheability=page&version= Please fill out the form and send it back to the SVA. Important information: With this form you can decided, if you want to have an health-insurance or not. BUT you can only decide that, if you have in mind to earn less then the described limit shown below. Otherwise you HAVE TO insure yourself. The taxes offices and the insurance company SVA are working together very closely. Which means: If you made your EST, the taxes offices will also send it to the SVA. So in case you 3

4 forgot to send a form to the SVA and you had an income over the limits shown below, then the SVA will calculate your payment for your insurance either way. That s because the SVA will assume, that you ve been working the last year and they will want you to pay for your insurance for that period of time. So you will get bills for you insurance for a whole year. The inssurance of duty from the SVA covers three sectors of insurance and a private precaution, in case you want to retire. Insurance in case you might retire Insurance in case you might get ill Insurance in case you might have an accident Private precaution for retirement To get to know, how much you have to pay for your insurance at SVA, the SVA will have a look at your payed income tax ( Einkommenssteuerbescheid ), which you get from the taxes office. The profit you had (and the payment, which the SVA wants for your insurance) will be the data basis for the calculation. On the one hand you ll have to pay more and on the other hand it means, that you get more money in case you retire, get ill or have an accident. You have to pay for an insurance at SVA, even if you already have an other insurance in Austria or any other state, in the following cases: Insurance limit number 1: 6.453,36 (state of affairs 2014) If you weren t employed during the last year or had any other income (like the following below), then this limit is for you. Insurance limit number 2: 4.743,72 (state of affairs 2014) If you were employed during the last year or had any income like the following: Any income you get because you retired ( Pension ) Any income from an agency of the state, which represents different kind of employees ( Kammer ) Any income from you insurance company because you are ill or you are pregnant ( Krankengeld, Wochengeld ) The income you get because you are not employed ( Arbeitslosengeld, Notstandshilfe ) The income you get because you have kids ( Kinderbetreuungsgeld) then this limit is for you. Approximately 28% (state of affairs 2014) of your whole income is used for your insurance. Additionally to this percentage about 8,67 per month are used for your insurance in case you might have an accident Unfallversicherung (- as explained above). 4

5 If your income is less than the shown limits above, than you can decide if you want to insure yourself voluntarily at the SVA. This kind of insurance is called Opting-In and only covers two sectors of insurance insurance, in case you get ill and insurance, in case you have an accident. This will cost you about 50 a month. Example 1: The taxes office gets to know, that your profit is about 7.000,-/year = your profit is over the shown limit = you HAVE TO insure yourself Example 2: The taxes office gets to know, that your profit is about 3.000,-/year = your profit is under the shown limit = you DON T HAVE TO insure yourself, but you CAN, if you want to = you have the possibility of getting the insurance Opting-In at the SVA Important information: By filling out the form for the SVA, you have to tell the SVA yourself, if you have a feeling you will earn more than the shown limit. If you give them false information, you can always correct that. BUT if you don t correct it, although you know for example you will be earning more than the shown limit, then you will have to pay a refund. Possibilities of getting to know, how much you will have to pay for your taxes and the insurance: Taxes: You can contact a person, who has specialized in working with taxes Steuerberater_in. With the following link you can get a calculation from the taxes office, how much you will have to pay for a year: Insurance: You can either get some information about a possible insurance via phone. Or with the following link you ll get to know how much you would have to pay for your insurance for a month: Additionally to this result you have to consider the insurance, in case you have an accident Unfallversicherung. This will cost you about 8,67 per month. And there is also the private insurance, in case you retire. Depending on how much you are earning, the SVA will calculate a basis and multiply it with 1,53%. 5

6 Summary about the approximately costs for insurance and taxes you will have to pay for a month/a year: Profit of a year taxes/ year taxes/ month insurance/ year insurance/ month Total for a year Total for a month *In this table the payment for the SVA isn t included in the calculated profit/year. The basis of this summary about the costs, which may appear, are data of Profits over the amout of ,-/year are not being considered. The data have been collected and calculated from the taxes office (table for taxes you have to pay for your income, ministry of financial affairs) and the insurance company SVA (calculator for expected payment). If you have any more questions, please contact the following counselling centers either via phone or via . Beratungsstelle LENA Beratungsstelle für Menschen die in den sexuellen Dienstleistungen arbeiten bzw. gearbeitet haben A-4020 Linz, Steingasse 25/II. Stock T: 0043/732/ [email protected] SOPHIE Bildungsraum für Prostituierte A-1150 Wien, Oelweingasse 6-8 T: 0043/1/ [email protected] This sheet has been designed by the counselling centre LENA and has been translated by the counselling centre SOPHIE. We don t lay claim that all information is complete and correct. 6