Office for Combating Fraud brought more than 154 million euros into the state coffers in 2025
The Anti-Fraud Office (ABB) brought in more than 154 million euros for the Republic of Austria in 2025 - that is an increase of over 47 million euros compared to the previous year. It was possible to put a stop to 411 bogus companies and 7,288 financial criminal proceedings were concluded. In total, the ABB inspected more than 51,000 employees in 25,981 companies, carried out 128 house searches and seized 92.5 terabytes of evidence.
"Combating fraud is an important focus of the Ministry of Finance's work. Not only because of its contribution to budget consolidation, but also as a contribution to justice. At the same time, every success against unfair and illegal practices also has a preventative effect and improves tax morale. Following the extremely successful year 2025, last year's Anti-Fraud Act will continue to set strong accents and an even stronger focus on combating tax evasion and preventing unwanted tax avoidance in the coming years. Anyone who believes that shortcuts or shortcuts make things easier and better will have to realise that this is not the case. We are clearly on the side of honest and upright taxpayers in this country and have zero tolerance for fraud," emphasises Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer.
"Unfair business practices not only damage our state, but also penalise all those entrepreneurs who play by the rules. The fight against fraud is therefore also about fairness towards all honest entrepreneurs, who must not be at a competitive disadvantage by paying taxes and duties correctly. In 2025, the Anti-Fraud Office once again demonstrated how targeted and efficient it is in combating tax and social fraud," summarised State Secretary for Finance Barbara Eibinger-Miedl.
"2025 was a year of intensive work, major changes and clear decisions for the future for the Anti-Fraud Office. A particular focus was on further strengthening data analysis and the effective use of existing information. The responsible use of modern analytical methods is becoming increasingly important in the fight against fraud and will continue to play a key role in the future. The consistent fight against tax evasion, tax evasion, social fraud and wage and social dumping is and remains a central pillar of a functioning constitutional and welfare state. The Anti-Fraud Office makes an indispensable contribution to this," says ABB Executive Board member Christian Ackerler.
As an operational authority within the Federal Ministry of Finance, the ABB brings together the anti-fraud units of the Finance Ministry. Its core tasks are combating national and international tax crime, detecting social security fraud and, as a financial criminal authority, directly sanctioning tax offences.
Examples of various cases of fraud in 2025:
International distribution of food supplements - suspicion of systematic tax evasion totalling millions
The Anti-Fraud Office is conducting a financial criminal investigation into an entrepreneur who has been selling anti-ageing food supplements internationally under a well-known brand since the 1990s, primarily to Germany, partly also to Austria and other EU countries. A German procedure gave rise to the suspicion that sales and profits had not been declared correctly for income and value added tax purposes for years. According to current information, most of the sales are said to have been organised outside the regular tax system, whereby a complex international network of companies with shareholders in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain and the USA, among others, was used to conceal the payment flows and more than 40 companies attributable to the accused were identified. The preliminary loss amount is around 3.6 million euros (income, sales and corporation tax). In Austria, searches were carried out, accounts were opened, witnesses were questioned and a comprehensive tax audit was conducted. The accused has confessed and has announced that he will settle the outstanding duties; the criminal proceedings are still pending.
Suspicion of organised illicit work and serious fraud involving the supply of labour
The Office for Combating Fraud (Financial Police) has uncovered a serious case of suspected organised illicit work and serious fraud: an Austrian entrepreneur is alleged to have illegally employed workers from abroad and evaded social security contributions. The amount of damages is still being determined, but is likely to be in the seven-figure sector. Under the direction of the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption, there were five court-authorised house searches and two social fraud inspections in three provinces, during which around 660,000 euros in cash as well as luxury watches/jewellery (approx. 200,000 euros) and gold (approx. 230,000 euros) were seized. In addition, numerous mobile phones, computers and data carriers with around 3 TB of data were seized.
The workers are said to have been formally employed by seven companies in Germany and Bulgaria, where they were covered by social security, but had actually been left to the Austrian company. In more than 30 cases, confirmations are likely to have been falsified, and some of the companies were fictitious or fraudulent. At the same time, further measures were taken in Vienna and around 80 offences under the Aliens Employment Act and in the wage and social dumping sector were detected. Additional facts of the case (including illegal supply of labour, fictitious invoices, tax fraud/evasion and illegal trading) are still being investigated.
Conclusion of investigations into suspected systematic wage fraud and tax evasion at personnel supply companies
A routine ÖGK audit at an Austrian personnel provision company revealed serious suspicions, which led to a comprehensive investigation following a report to the Tax Fraud Investigation Unit: According to the report, net wage agreements were systematically concluded between 2020 and 2021 with predominantly foreign workers, who were required to sign blank cash receipts in advance. Alleged advances ("payments on account") were then wrongly deducted from their pay slips, which is also supported by two labour court rulings. The investigations point to a fraudulent system used by the management to reduce turnover and income taxes: gross wages in line with the collective agreement were officially reported, but lower net wages were actually paid out, with the difference presumably being skimmed off via fictitious cash outflows and the blank receipts and partly channelled to the personal disposal of the company management; in addition, employees did not receive pay slips, which made checks more difficult. The preliminary tax loss amounts to around 2.2 million euros.
Successful seizure of illegal gambling machines in Wels
Following a complaint in Wels, the Financial Police at the Office for Combating Fraud uncovered a particularly brazen case of illegal gambling: the operator of a petrol station is said to have operated two gambling machines in a locked corrugated iron shed in the backyard and thus generated additional revenue. During an inspection, the suspicion was quickly confirmed, especially as there were even typical bar stools for gamblers in front of the machines. Both machines were confiscated and the operator reported to the police. Prosecution will take place in accordance with the Gambling Act, with fines of up to 20,000 euros.
Spectacular case of fraud in 24 cases with high financial consequences throughout Austria
A software distributor based in eastern Austria sold three POS software programmes to restaurants throughout Austria and advertised in English and several Asian languages, including product descriptions written by the company itself. In the course of a court-authorised house search in Vienna, the Tax Fraud Investigation Unit seized extensive customer and backup material, the IT analysis of which enabled specialists to identify the clients and verify tax evasion. In two programmes, it was substantiated that sales were subsequently deleted and could be made inconspicuous even during audits by reorganising consecutive numbers. In the third programme, sales were concealed using the "tip" function by only transferring 10% to the sales table. As a result, the Tax Fraud Investigation Unit supported audits in 24 major cases, prepared a final report for the WKStA in cooperation with IT experts, the criminal tax authority and lawyers, claimed around 12.6 million euros and secured convictions: Most of the direct perpetrators have been convicted by final judgement, the software distributor was sentenced to a fine of 2 million euros and two years' conditional imprisonment at the Vienna Regional Court at the end of March 2025 - a result of the close cooperation between the tax administration, WKStA and public prosecutors.
Searches for tax evasion in the taxi industry
In the early hours of September 2025, the Office for Fraud Investigation (Tax Fraud Investigation Unit and Criminal Matters) carried out a large-scale search operation at seven locations in Vienna and the surrounding area, targeting a family of entrepreneurs with several taxi companies. Several members of the industry are suspected of having systematically concealed turnover over a period of years, thereby evading millions in taxes and duties. The alleged loss is in the seven-figure sector. Extensive evidence and assets were seized during the searches, including business documents, data carriers and smartphones as well as high-priced vehicles, cash and expensive watches, also to secure possible fines. The Austrian Customs Office provided significant support for the operation, inter alia with a sniffer dog specialising in cash. A total of 60,000 euros in cash was seized.
The ABB's annual report is available atwww.bmf.gv.at/jahresbericht.