Cash register rules 2026 Austria: annual receipt, limits, exemptions

In Austria you must use a Registrierkasse (certified electronic cash register) once your business reaches €15,000 annual turnover and takes more than €7,500 of it in cash; card payments count as cash (§ 131b BAO). If you run one, you create the Jahresbeleg (annual receipt) on 31 December and check it by 15 February of the following year at the latest.

Law as of 11 November 2026

Three points are new or often missed: since 1 January 2026 the open-air exemption (Kalte-Hände-Regel, "cold hands rule") covers up to €45,000 instead of €30,000. Since 1 October 2026 you may hand over receipts digitally. And the duty to issue a receipt applies from the first euro, even without a cash register duty.

Cash register duty 2026 at a glance

Who needs a cash register

The duty depends on two limits, and you must exceed both (§ 131b Abs. 1 Z 2 BAO):

1. Annual turnover of €15,000 or more per business. This counts the business's whole turnover, including sales paid by bank transfer.
2. Cash sales above €7,500 a year. Only cash payments in the BAO sense count here.

Payments by debit or credit card, other comparable electronic methods, cheques and vouchers or tokens you issued yourself all count as cash (§ 131b Abs. 1 Z 3 BAO). A shop where nobody pays with notes any more can still need a cash register. If you only write invoices that clients pay by bank transfer, you have no cash sales and need no Registrierkasse.

The limits apply per business: if you run several businesses, test each one separately. Online shops have their own rule: if customers do not pay you directly in cash, those sales are exempt from the till duty; you must still issue or send receipts.

The same limits apply to Einzelunternehmer (sole traders), Neue Selbständige (new self-employed) and GmbHs. Only turnover and payment method matter, not the legal form.

When the duty starts and ends

The duty starts with the fourth month after the end of the Voranmeldungszeitraum (VAT return period) in which you first exceeded both limits (§ 131b Abs. 3 BAO). That is the period of your UVA (VAT return): the calendar month or, with prior-year turnover up to €100,000, the calendar quarter.

The duty does not end on its own after a weaker year. It ends at the start of the next calendar year only if you stay below the limits in a later year and special circumstances make it foreseeable that you will stay below them in future. The receipt duty and single-entry recording stay in any case.

Seasonal businesses do not have to deregister their till in the off-season.

Worked example: when Lena needs a till

Lena opens a hair salon as an Einzelunternehmerin in Jänner (January) 2026. She has no prior-year turnover, so her VAT return period is the calendar quarter. Some clients pay cash or by card; business clients booking wedding styling pay invoices by transfer.

By the end of May Lena reaches €6,000 + €4,500 + €5,300 = €15,800 annual turnover (€15,000 or more) and €4,000 + €2,000 + €2,100 = €8,100 in cash sales (more than €7,500). Both limits are first exceeded in Q2 (April to June). The quarter ends on 30 June; the fourth month after it is October. From 1 October 2026 Lena must record every cash payment with a secured Registrierkasse. At year-end she creates her first annual receipt and checks it by 15 February 2027.

From her first haircut in January, Lena still had to give a receipt for every cash payment, for example from a receipt book with consecutive numbers.

The annual receipt on 31 December

At the end of each calendar year every Registrierkasse must create a Jahresbeleg (§ 8 Abs. 3 RKSV). It is the monthly receipt for December: a zero-amount receipt showing the turnover counter at year-end, signed by the till. A financial year that differs from the calendar year changes nothing; the calendar year always counts.

For 2026:

1. Create it: after the last sale of the year, generally on 31 December 2026 or the last business day before, create the annual receipt. Most tills have a dedicated function; otherwise record a cash sale of 0.
2. Print it: the annual receipt must be printed, even if you have been giving customers digital receipts since October.
3. Check it by 15 February 2027: scan the code on the receipt with the "BMF Belegcheck" app, or let your till send it to FinanzOnline through the Registrierkassen-Webservice. The Finance Ministry's decree says the check must be done by 15 February of the following year at the latest.
4. Keep it: keep the printout with the check result for seven years (§ 132 BAO).
5. Back up the data log: separately, back up the till's data log to an external medium in a form that cannot be changed at least every quarter (§ 7 Abs. 3 RKSV).

If you issue another receipt after the annual receipt, you need a new annual receipt. Businesses that never close may create it just before or after midnight. With several tills in one Registrierkassenverbund (till network), each till creates its annual receipt, but one check per network is enough.

What a receipt must show, and what can be digital since October

Every receipt shows at least your business, a consecutive number, the date, quantity and description of the goods or the type and extent of the service, and the amount (§ 132a Abs. 3 BAO). Receipts from a Registrierkasse add the till ID, date and time, the amount split by VAT rate and the machine-readable code (§ 11 RKSV). Keep a copy or electronic copy for seven years.

Since 1 October 2026 an electronic receipt also counts, if the customer can access it right after paying, for example by email, in an app or on a screen to read with a phone (§ 132a Abs. 1 BAO as amended by BGBl. I Nr. 97/2025). If the customer or the tax police ask for paper, you print it. According to the government business portal USP, this also works later, until closing time the same day.

Customers must take the receipt, but they are not fined if they refuse it. Your duty is met once you offer it.

The open-air rule and other exemptions

Some sales are exempt from the till, single-entry recording and receipt duties. You then work out the daily takings by counting the cash at the end of the day, the Kassasturz (§ 131 Abs. 4 BAO, Barumsatzverordnung 2015):

Until 31 December 2025 the limit for these exemptions was €30,000; the Abgabenänderungsgesetz 2025 raised it to €45,000. For outdoor sales, the rule applies only as long as the sale does not take place in or in connection with an enclosed room.

Mobile services outside your premises, such as mobile hairdressers, masseurs or vets, get a simplification: give a receipt with a copy on site and enter the sales in the till without undue delay once you are back.

Setting up, registering, outages

• Start receipt: when set up, the till creates a Startbeleg (start receipt) with amount 0.
• Register: report the signature or seal creation unit and the till in FinanzOnline no later than one week after you start using it (§ 6 Abs. 3 and § 16 RKSV), then check the start receipt with the Belegcheck app.
• Monthly receipt: at the end of each month the till creates a signed zero receipt.
• Outage: if the security device fails for more than 48 hours, report it in FinanzOnline without undue delay, which the decree takes to mean within a week as a rule (§ 17 RKSV). Until then each receipt carries the note "Sicherheitseinrichtung ausgefallen".

A till costing up to €1,000 net can be written off at once as a low-value asset (§ 13 EStG 1988).

Fines: what happens without a till

Not using a Registrierkasse despite the duty is a fiscal offence with a fine of up to €5,000 (§ 51 Abs. 1 lit. c FinStrG). The same cap applies if you fail to issue receipts (§ 51 Abs. 1 lit. d FinStrG). Changing or deleting till data with software risks up to €25,000 (§ 51a FinStrG). The tax consequence often weighs more: without a secured till your records lose the presumption of correctness (§ 163 BAO), and the tax office may estimate your figures (§ 184 BAO).

Austria is not Germany

Many guides online describe Germany's KassenSichV with its TSE. Germany has no general duty to use a till; if you use an electronic one there, you secure it with a TSE. In Austria the Registrierkasse is mandatory from the turnover limits, secured with a signature or seal creation unit, registered in FinanzOnline and checked through start, monthly and annual receipts. A till system made for Germany is therefore not automatically fit for Austria.

More deadlines before year-end are in the year-end tax tips 2026.

Norman in Austria

Norman is an AI bookkeeping app for the self-employed and companies, not a cash register. In Germany and Poland it captures receipts by photo, matches bank transactions, writes invoices and prepares tax returns; for Austria, Norman is in preparation. Until then you will find free guides to Austrian law here, the profit allowance calculator and everything about Norman's launch in Austria.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a cash register as a sole trader in Austria?

Yes, if your business reaches €15,000 annual turnover and takes more than €7,500 of it in cash or by card. The legal form does not matter. Below that you need no till, but you must give a receipt for every cash payment.

Do card payments count as cash for the Registrierkasse?

Yes. Debit and credit cards, comparable electronic payments, cheques and your own vouchers count as cash (§ 131b Abs. 1 Z 3 BAO). Only a bank transfer against an invoice does not.

By when must I check the 2026 annual receipt?

Create and print the annual receipt at year-end, generally on 31 December 2026. Check it by 15 February 2027 at the latest, with the "BMF Belegcheck" app or automatically through the Registrierkassen-Webservice.

What does the open-air exemption cover in 2026?

Sales outdoors, in mountain huts, in wine taverns open briefly and in small club canteens are exempt from the till and receipt duties up to €45,000 net a year. Until the end of 2025 the limit was €30,000.

Do I still have to print receipts?

Not in every case. Since 1 October 2026 you may give the receipt digitally, by email, app or on a screen to read. If the customer asks for paper, you must print it.