You receive money from a parent for the purchase of an apartment. The financing has been agreed and the amount is in your bank account. That does not automatically mean every other task is done: for certain monetary gifts a Schenkungsmeldung may be required in Austria. Bank information, civil-law family agreement and tax notification are different procedures.
First distinguish the actual gift from the loan
Our editorial recommendation: Record the real agreement before classifying the payment. Is the money being transferred gratuitously or is it to be repaid? Are there special conditions? A bank entry with the text “Eigenmittel” does not fully explain this context.
This article deals with the notification check for an actual gift inter vivos. It does not decide whether a particular repayment clause is effective, and it does not draft a family agreement. Such questions will be clarified separately if needed. A repayment obligation vis‑à‑vis the bank must not simply disappear because the family colloquially calls their support a gift.
The Austrian nexus is not determined only by citizenship
The official BMF information explains the required domestic nexus via the domicile or habitual residence of the donor or the donee at the decisive time. A second residence can also be relevant. [BMF] Therefore, looking only at the location of the bank account or the nationality is not sufficient for the preliminary check.
Where several countries are involved, possible obligations are assessed separately in each affected jurisdiction. An Austrian notification does not confirm that no additional obligations exist abroad. This article does not transfer Austrian limits and deadlines to Germany.
Include earlier gifts from the same person in the calculation
§ 121a BAO exempts acquisitions between relatives in principle up to a fair market value of 50.000 Euro; acquisitions from the same person within one year are aggregated. For other persons the provision names 15.000 Euro within five years. The decisive factor is always the concrete relationship between the giving and the receiving person; other statutory exemptions must be examined separately. [BAO]
In the completely fictitious example a father gave his daughter 8.000 Euro in March. In October of the same year 45.000 Euro follows for the apartment purchase. Without any further peculiarity or exemption those add up to 53.000 Euro and thus exceed the relative threshold. Looking at the second payment in isolation would miss the decisive aggregation.
This is not a recommendation to split amounts artificially. The actual acquisitions and relationships are recorded in full. A gift from another person is not simply described as an additional payment from the same father; conversely his own partial payments are not treated as independent new exemption thresholds.
The reporting period does not begin only at the apartment purchase
The notification must in principle be made within three months of the acquisition. If aggregation only triggers the obligation, the acquisition that is decisive is the one with which the amount threshold is first exceeded. The notification must then list all acquisitions covered by the aggregation. [BAO]
In the fictitious family case the decisive point in time is therefore the October transfer and not only the later purchase contract. Have the time of acquisition, relevant prior transfers and any exemption clarified accordingly. A bank check already carried out does not simply push the statutory reporting deadline back.
Document responsibility and completion traceably
The BMF information refers for the notification to the Finanzamt Österreich and in principle to electronic submission where this is reasonable. It also explains that a timely notification by one obliged person also fulfils the obligation of the other. [BMF]
Practically, it should therefore be agreed explicitly who will take on the task and where proof of the completed notification will be filed. An indefinite assumption that the other person or the notary will probably do it is not a reliable completion note. This article contains no concrete submission instructions and does not offer an official form as a separate download.
Distinguish monetary gifts from gifts of real property
The BMF distinguishes the notification dealt with here from gifts of real property; there are separate notification obligations for real property under the real estate acquisition tax law. [BMF] Receiving money for a later purchase does not automatically have the same tax treatment as the person to whom the property is transferred directly.
Useful preparation therefore combines a clear family agreement, traceable source of funds and a timely completed notification check. A submitted notification is not a general confirmation that all contractual, tax and financing questions of the apartment purchase are thereby concluded.