Austria - Government Revenues





Austria: Government Revenues

Mnemonic GVREV.IAUT
Unit Mil. EUR, NSA
Adjustments Not Seasonally Adjusted
Quarterly 5.47 %
Data 2023 Q3 56,864
2023 Q2 60,153

Series Information

Source Statistics Austria
Release General Government Operations
Frequency Quarterly
Start Date 3/31/2001
End Date 9/30/2023

Austria: Government

Reference Last Previous Units Frequency
Outstanding Public Debt Jan 2024 283,236 283,252 Millions of Euros, NSA Monthly
Government Budget Balance 2023 Q3 -3,166 -2,045 Mil. EUR, NSA Quarterly
Government Expenditures 2023 Q3 60,030 62,199 Mil. EUR, NSA Quarterly
Government Revenues 2023 Q3 56,864 60,153 Mil. EUR, NSA Quarterly
Gross External Debt 2023 Q2 0 0 USD, NSA Quarterly
Outstanding Public Debt - Domestic 1994 0 0 EUR Annual

Release Information

This release covers general government operations revenues and expenditures, as well as, financial accounts. These tables are a part of Statistics Austria's Public accounts. Public accounts deal with revenue, expenditure, personnel numbers and balance sheet data for state and local government, social security funds and numerous extra-budgetary units. National Accounts data, which is displayed in account form and can be compared internationally, describes the revenue and expenditure of the “general government sector” for the public finance sector. In addition to annual data, which is updated twice a year, quarterly data is also available for assessing the latest trends. The standard classification is ESA 2010.

Active:

  • Framework: ESA 2010
  • Measurement: Millions of euros (Mil. EUR)
  • Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
  • Native frequency: Quarterly
  • Start date: 2001Q1

Predecessor:

  • ESA 95 quarterly - 2001Q1 (extended to 1999Q1) to 2014Q1
  • ESA 95 annual - 1988 to 2013

According to an Austrian Regulation (“Gebarungsstatistik-Verordnung”) all units of ESA 2010-sector general government are obliged to transmit data on monetary flows and stocks and on employment to Statistics Austria.

Central government comprises one main unit (federal government –“Bund”) and numerous extra budgetary units.

  1. For the “Bund” administrative data – i.e. the closed accounts which are structured according to the criteria laid down in the “Bundeshaushaltsgesetz” (Federal Budgeting Law) and which are approved by the Federal Court of Auditors and agreed upon by Parliament – are available on a very detailed level – online – for Statistics Austria. These basic data are transformed into ESA 2010 categories and have to be supplemented by additional information like “consumption of fixed capital” and “imputed social contributions”.
  2. For the extra budgetary units financial statements, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets in rather heterogeneous formats are transmitted to Statistics Austria. This information is compressed into a common financial statistics (“Gebarungsstatistik”) sheet which is the basis for the further National Accounts compilation procedures.

State government comprises eight main units (all “Länder” except Vienna capital which is classified as local government unit) and numerous extra budgetary units.

  1. For the “Länder” administrative data – i.e. the closed accounts which are structured according to the criteria laid down in the “Voranschlags- und Rechnungsabschluss-Verordnung” (Budget and Closed Accounts Regulation) and which are agreed upon by the State Parliaments – are available on a very detailed level and electronically for Statistics Austria. These basic data are transformed into ESA 2010 categories and have to be supplemented by additional information like “consumption of fixed capital” and “imputed social contributions”.
  2. For the extra budgetary units see the remarks under “Central Government”.

Local government comprises 2358 municipalities (including Vienna capital) – as of 1st January 2006 - and numerous extra budgetary units.

  1. For the municipalities administrative data – i.e. the closed accounts which are structured according to the criteria laid down in the “Voranschlags- und Rechnungsabschluss-Verordnung” (Budget and Closed Accounts Regulation) and which are agreed upon by the Local Parliaments – are available on a very detailed level and electronically for Statistics Austria. These basic data are transformed into ESA 2010 categories and have to be supplemented by additional information like “consumption of fixed capital” and “imputed social contributions”.
  2. For the extra budgetary units see the remarks under “Central Government”.

Social Security Funds: Social security funds are obliged to report directly to Statistics Austria. Coverage and data format has been fixed by the Federal Ministry for Social Affairs.

Responsibilities:

  • General responsibility for National Accounts: Statistics Austria
  • Calculation of General Government Accounts: 
    • Nonfinancial Accounts: Statistics Austria, Financial Accounts and Balance Sheets: Oesterreichische National bank (“Maastricht” government debt: Statistics Austria)
      Conceptual framework & classification issues: In general Statistics Austria (concerning Financial Accounts in coordination with the Oesterreichische National bank)
  • Dissemination:
    • Nonfinancial Accounts: Statistics Austria, Financial Accounts and Balance Sheets:
      Oesterreichische National bank

Important breaks in the submitted time-series (major changes of accounting/classification rules) (if any):

  1. The most important breaks in the time-series can be observed for 1996/97 and 2000/01.
    1. Main reasons for 1996/97:
      1. Reclassification of the “Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen Finanzierungs AG” (ASFINAG; Highway financing corporation) from sector general government to sector nonfinancial corporations following a reorganization of ASFINAG (fulfilling from 1997 onwards the ESA 2010 criteria for an institutional unit).
      2. Reclassification of municipalities’ establishments in the field of water supply/refuse collection/sewage disposal from sector general government to sector nonfinancial corporations following from a reorganization of these establishments (fulfilling from 1997 onwards the ESA 2010 criteria for a quasi-corporation).
      3. Public hospitals became market producers as a consequence of a substantial change in hospital financing. Hospitals in some state governments which have been organized in (quasi-)corporation have been reclassified from sector general government to sector nonfinancial corporations.
    2. Main reasons for 2000/01:
      1. Substantial tax reform leading to an increase in the tax revenue quota of about 2 percentage points of GDP.
      2. Hospitals in the remaining state governments have been organized in (quasi-)corporation which has led to a further reclassification from sector general government to sector nonfinancial corporations.

Consolidation of items Property income (D4), Other current transfers (D7), Capital transfers (D9) and their sub-items in the transmitted accounts:

  • On the level of sector general government items D.4, D.7 and D.9 and their sub-items are consolidated. On the level of subsectors these transactions are still shown unconsolidated (i.e. for instance including transfers between different units of central government).

Missing series in the submitted tables 0200, 0900, and 1100 and in financial accounts (as well as tables 0600 and 0700):

  • There are no series missing.

The composition of the general government sector:

  • Major units covered:
    • Central Government: Federal government (“Bund”)
    • State Government: 8 state governments (“Länder” (all except Vienna capital))
    • Local Government: 2358 municipalities (including Vienna capital)
    • Social Security Funds: Pension, health and accident insurance funds
    • Rules to apply to classify peripheral (non-core) units within or outside the General Government sector: ESA 2010 rules for institutional units (“decision-making autonomy in respect of its principal function and keeping a complete set of accounts”) and market/nonmarket distinction (“a 50% criterion should be applied: ….if more than 50% of the production costs are covered by sales, the institutional unit is a market producer and classified to the non-financial and financial corporations sectors…”) are applied.

Accural Adjustment:

General remarks on necessary adjustments of accounting documents to accrual information

  • Adjustment method (time and amount) applied for the recording of the following revenue items:
    • Taxes on production and imports: Time Adjusted Cash
      • Time adjustments are made for the Value Added Tax (two months) based on the monthly accounts of federal government.
    • Taxes on income and wealth: Time Adjusted Cash
      • Time adjustments are made for the Wage Tax (one month) based on the monthly accounts of federal government.
    • Social Security Contributions: Basic data provided by the social security funds are already accrual.
      • An adjustment is made for amounts unlikely to be collected (ESA95-Code D.995)
  • Adjustment method (time and amount) applied for the recording of the following expenditure items:
    • Interest: Full Accrual (Calculation made and description provided by the Austrian Federal Financing Agency)
      • Interest flows are calculated on an accrual basis according to the "debtor approach". The debtor approach records the accrual of interest from the perspective of the issuer and on the basis of conditions determined at the time of issue of a debt. In general, the Republic of Austria records the accrual of interest on securities on a single transaction basis. Securities denominated in foreign currency will be expressed in Euro on the basis of the ECB Reference rate of the reporting date.
        • Interest on deposits and loans: The interest receivable and payable on these financial assets and liabilities is determined by applying the relevant rate of interest to the principal outstanding at each point of time throughout the accounting period.
        • Interest on bills: The difference between the face value and the price paid at the time of issue (i.e. the discount) measures the interest payable over the life of the bill.
        • Interest on bonds and swaps: Interest on bonds and swaps consists of coupon payments and the difference between face value or redemption price on the one hand, and issue price on the other.
    • Compensation of Employees: There are no adjustments made.
    • Social benefits in cash: Basic data provided by the social security funds are already accrual.
    • Social benefits in kind: Basic data provided by the social security funds are already accrual.
    • Other current transfers: Accrual adjustment for transfer to EU-Budget (GNI-own resources)
  • Gross capital formation: Accrual adjustments are compiled for gross fixed capital formation of federal government.

Information on special transactions:

  • Main items recorded as capital transfer (D9PAY) in the general government account:
    Investment grants.
  • Items recorded as social benefits in kind via market producers (D.63121; D.63131) (if any):
    • If so, what major items are captured by this category?
      • The main items are payments for medical treatment (stationary, ambulatory), medicines, medical appliances and equipment, reductions on transport and school books prices.
  • From mid March 2020, the payments for furlough schemes („Kurzarbeit“ and „Fixkostenzuschuss“) have been recorded since 2020Q1. According to ESA2010 these payments are to be seen as subsidies (D3). 

Record of payable and/or non-payable tax credits (if any):

  • There are both payable and non-payable tax credits in Austria. For their treatment in the Austrian National Accounts we distinguish between, a) tax credits linked to an individual tax liability which are treated as a reduction of government tax revenue (irrelevant whether payable or non-payable) and b) tax credits as a pure substitution for a social expenditure not depending on the existence of an individual tax liability which are treated as government expenditure.
  • For the purposes of the OECD Revenue Statistics payable tax credits of category a) are split into a revenue and an expenditure component

Moody's Analytics supplements

For ESA 95, we extended select series and produced SA counterparts.

For ESA 2010, we extend headline items (1995 to 2000) and produce SA counterparts.

Publication schedule and revision process:

  • Preliminary data: T + 3 months
  • Final data: T + 16 months
  • Regular revisions occur each March and September

Further reading

At the source:

At IMF (SDDS Plus):