Your car to Austria: no exemption, but an old rate
The most stubborn myth of this route: "as removal goods your car is NoVA-free". Incorrect — but there are three real softeners: the 0% rate for electric, the old NoVA regime for older cars, and the Dutch BPM refund. Plus the clock that decides everything: one month on Dutch plates.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
No, your car doesn't enter Austria tax-free as removal goods. Before the first Austrian registration you pay the NoVA, the Normverbrauchsabgabe: a one-off tax on the car, comparable to the Dutch BPM. The Austrian Ministry of Finance says so without detours: your household goods are free, the NoVA stays.
Against that stand three real softeners:
- An electric car is exempt.
- A used car falls under the NoVA regime of its first registration in the EU.
- The Netherlands refunds part of the BPM.
And there is one clock that decides everything. With your main residence in Austria you drive on Dutch plates for one month at most.
Where does the myth of the exemption come from?
When moving from an EU country your household goods are completely free: no tax, no formalities. But the BMF adds straight away that the NoVA is due before the first registration. The six-month rule doing the rounds ("used the car yourself for half a year, so exempt") belongs to the customs exemption for people moving from a country outside the EU. For a move from the Netherlands that rule says nothing.
How is the NoVA for my car calculated?
The basis is the market value of your car without VAT, usually according to a recognised valuation list such as Eurotax. The rate depends on CO2 emissions.
Here is the first softener. For a car already registered in an EU country, the NoVA law applies as it stood on the date of its first registration in the EU. So your Dutch registration date counts.
For a new car Austria calculates like this in 2026:
- The rate is (CO2 − 91 g) divided by five, with a maximum of 80%.
- On top comes a surcharge of € 80 per gram above 155 g/km.
- A deduction of € 350 comes off.
The BMF gives an example itself, and it's instructive because the old regime isn't automatically cheap: someone moving brings a car from 2020, market value € 10,000, emissions 290 g/km. The NoVA under the 2020 regime comes to € 3,283.33. An economical car comes off much better; a car with high emissions rarely.
The second softener: a car that by its drive emits 0 g/km CO2, such as a fully electric car, is exempt. A hybrid isn't.
How much time do I have?
| Clock or item | Deadline or amount | Where it's laid down |
|---|---|---|
| Driving on Dutch plates | one month from first bringing the car into Austria | KFG § 82(8) |
| Extension | one extra month, only if you show registration wasn't possible | KFG § 82(8) |
| Data in the Genehmigungsdatenbank | at most € 180 for a car with a COC | oesterreich.gv.at |
| Registration at the Zulassungsstelle | € 178 plus a cost reimbursement of at most € 65.60, plus plates | BMF |
| BPM refund in the Netherlands | registration within 13 weeks of the status 'Export' | Belastingdienst |
The month counts from the moment the car drives into Austria. The law says it literally: a temporary stay outside Austria does not interrupt the period. After that month you hand in the registration certificate and the plates to the authority, unless the Austrian registration is done. Anyone who brings the car along and only then starts arranging things is immediately tight for time.
How does the conversion go?
The conversion takes three steps:
- The database. First your car's data goes into the Genehmigungsdatenbank, the Austrian database of approved vehicles.
- The NoVA. Then you pay the tax.
- The registration. Only then do you register the car.
With the COC document, the European type approval, the database step is an administrative act. The brand importer or the technical testing office of your state does it, without a new approval. So bring that document from the Netherlands.
You calculate and pay the NoVA yourself with form NoVA 2 at the Finanzamt, the tax office, with a valuation of your car. Or the brand importer does it for you when entering the data.
The registration happens at a typically Austrian place: at the Zulassungsstelle of an insurer, the registration desk housed at an insurance company.
After that the fixed costs remain. The motorbezogene Versicherungssteuer, the Austrian road tax for cars up to 3.5 tonnes, is collected by your insurer. And on the motorway you need a vignette; the annual vignette costs € 106.80 in 2026.
What does the Netherlands give back?
If your car got a Dutch registration on or after 16 October 2006, isn't a damaged vehicle and has the status 'Export' at the RDW, you get part of the BPM back. The condition is that it is permanently registered in Austria within thirteen weeks of that export status. Anyone who registers within the Austrian month meets that deadline automatically. How the rest of the move goes is in your household goods to Austria.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Austria.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- BMF — moving from an EU country: household goods free, the NoVA remains due — bmf.gv.at
- BMF — own import from an EU member state: basis, worked example and the old regime — bmf.gv.at
- BMF — the NoVA formula since 1 July 2025 — bmf.gv.at
- BMF — NoVA exemption for cars with 0 g/km CO2 — bmf.gv.at
- KFG § 82(8) — one month on foreign plates — ris.bka.gv.at
- Oesterreich.gv.at — importing a vehicle: Genehmigungsdatenbank, at most € 180 — oesterreich.gv.at
- BMF — registration costs: € 178 plus at most € 65.60 — bmf.gv.at
- BMF — moving from outside the EU: the six months of use — bmf.gv.at
- Oesterreich.gv.at — the vignette: annual vignette 2026 € 106.80 — oesterreich.gv.at
- Belastingdienst — BPM refund on export — belastingdienst.nl
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