Austria.
Paper income taxed yearly — and paper gains billed at the border.
Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Austria runs about 13% pricier than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,830 a month here — roughly €33,960 a year, and a ×30 number near €1,019,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Continental with an alpine spine — real winters, warm green summers.
a new-build asking price
in Vienna — about €760/mo for 70 m²
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Austria, buy prices are up 67% since 2015 (+2.6% last year); rents up 47% since 2015.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Buy price and rent: Deloitte Property Index 2025 (14th ed., 2024 data). Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Gains, dividends and fund income are taxed at a flat 27.5%, however long you've held — there is no holding-period relief.
Austria taxes accumulating funds every year on income you never received: the fund's internal income and part of its internal gains are deemed distributed and taxed at 27.5% (what's taxed is added to your cost basis, so it isn't taxed twice at sale). 'Accumulating means tax-deferred' is false here — budget for the annual drag.
Leaving is a taxable event: moving your tax residence away is treated as selling your portfolio, with unrealised gains taxed at 27.5% — and there's no minimum threshold. Moves within the EU/EEA can defer the bill on request; from July 2026, larger deferred gains need an annual proof filing to keep that deferral alive.
No ISA-style account: the one subsidised retirement product is small and insurance-shaped, not a FIRE vehicle.
None — no inheritance, estate or gift taxes; the only bite is the graduated property-transfer tax (0.5–3.5%) on real estate passing by death or gift.
A tax-free-after-holding-period depot keeps being proposed and keeps not passing, and wealth-tax debates recur with every coalition. As of mid-2026, neither is law.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
fixed monthly income of at least twice the reference rate — €2,617/mo single, €4,128 for a couple (2026); pensions, investment income and savings all count
No golden visa — the rentier permit is means-tested, not for sale.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · no dual, generally · German (integration Module 2, ≈B1) + a citizenship test
a dwelling at your disposal; otherwise six months' stay
Austria runs Europe's most honest rentier route: a real permit for living on your own means — and a yearly quota so small that filing in the first days of January is the actual strategy. The far end is the price: citizenship takes ten years, four-fifths of them physically in Austria, and your old passport stays at the door.
The quota is the bottleneck — each year's settlement ordinance fixes a small number of places per province, first-come; check the new quota each January before planning.
Check it yourself: oesterreich.gv.at — settlement permit excl. gainful employment · PwC — Austria tax residence
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
You can buy straight into the statutory system: self-insurance with ÖGK at €565 a month (2026), reducible on application — with a six-month wait for benefits unless you arrive with recent insurance history.
Private cover: the rentier permit requires cover for all risks in Austria from day one.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- How are capital gains on ETFs taxed in Austria?
- Gains, dividends and fund income are taxed at a flat 27.5%, however long you've held. There's no holding-period relief for waiting.
- Are accumulating ETFs tax-deferred in Austria?
- No — 'accumulating means tax-deferred' is false here. Austria taxes accumulating funds every year on income you never received: the fund's internal income and part of its internal gains are deemed distributed and taxed at 27.5%. What's taxed is added to your cost basis, so it isn't taxed twice when you finally sell.
- Do I pay tax if I leave Austria?
- Yes — moving your tax residence away is treated as selling your portfolio, with unrealised gains taxed at 27.5% and no minimum threshold. A move within the EU/EEA can defer the bill on request, though from July 2026 larger deferred gains need an annual proof filing to keep that deferral alive.
- Is there a wealth tax in Austria?
- Wealth-tax debates recur with every coalition, but as of mid-2026 no wealth tax is law. A tax-free-after-holding-period account keeps being proposed too, and keeps not passing.
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Austria?
- Yes — the door is the rentier settlement permit: a codified 'settlement permit excluding gainful employment' — quota-capped per province, applied for from abroad, no working in Austria. The bar is fixed monthly income of at least twice the reference rate — €2,617/mo single, €4,128 for a couple (2026); pensions, investment income and savings all count. An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Rules like these move — confirm with the immigration authority before planning around them.
- How long until a Austria passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with German (integration Module 2, ≈B1) + a citizenship test. Dual citizenship is generally not allowed. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 8 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.