How debt collection works in Austria

Which laws govern debt collection in Austria?

Debt collection in Austria rests on four bodies of law: the General Civil Code, the Business Enterprise Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Trade Act together with the Debt Collection Maximum Rates Regulation. Between them they define when a claim falls into default, which costs the debtor has to bear, and who may collect claims on behalf of someone else at all.

The General Civil Code governs the basic case. A claim is in default as soon as the agreed payment date has passed. From that day default interest accrues, at four percent per year towards consumers and where the debtor is not at fault.

Between businesses the Business Enterprise Code applies, and with it a distinctly sharper standard. There the statutory default interest rate is 9.2 percentage points above the base rate, and the creditor can additionally claim a flat sum of 40 euros without having to prove any specific loss.

The Code of Civil Procedure determines the court route. For monetary claims up to 75,000 euros, payment order proceedings are mandatory: the court issues a payment order without an oral hearing and without hearing the debtor first.

Finally, the Trade Act makes debt collection a regulated trade. Anyone collecting claims for others in Austria needs a licence and is entered in the Austrian Business Licence Information System with a GISA number. What a licensed institute may charge is not freely negotiable but capped by the Debt Collection Maximum Rates Regulation.

For you as a creditor one point matters most in the end: the costs of default are borne by the debtor. Whoever fails to pay a justified invoice pays more later than the invoice itself.

Which stages does a collection case go through?

A collection case in Austria runs through three stages: the out-of-court demand, court payment order proceedings and enforcement. Each stage has its own deadlines and its own costs, and each stage ends the moment the debtor pays.

Stage 1: The out-of-court demand

The out-of-court demand is the first step and, in practice, the most important one. Austrian law does not prescribe a minimum number of reminders: default begins when the payment period expires, not with the first reminder. You can therefore send a demand immediately, claim default interest and, in business-to-business transactions, add the flat sum of 40 euros.

If you hand the claim to a licensed debt collection institute, what changes above all is the sender. The third internal reminder becomes a letter from a third party that knows the next step and can also take it. That is precisely why a large share of cases never leaves this stage.

Stage 2: Court payment order proceedings

Court payment order proceedings are mandatory for monetary claims up to 75,000 euros and run electronically in Austria via the electronic legal communication system. The court checks the details formally and issues a payment order without hearing the debtor beforehand.

The payment order instructs the debtor to pay within 14 days or to file an objection within four weeks. These two deadlines are frequently confused, but they are not the same thing. The four-week objection period starts on service and cannot be extended. A late objection is rejected without a hearing.

If no objection is filed, the payment order becomes final and has the effect of a judgment. If the debtor does object, the payment order loses its effect and the matter moves into ordinary proceedings. That is exactly why it pays to document cleanly what the claim rests on before filing.

Stage 3: Enforcement

Enforcement is the compulsory execution of a final title. It only becomes possible once an enforceable payment order or a judgment exists, and it is applied for at the court, not at an administrative authority.

The common forms are wage garnishment, where the employer transfers the attachable part of the income directly to the creditor, garnishment of bank balances, and seizure of movable assets by the bailiff. In many cases the debtor pays as soon as the enforcement application is served, because the consequences for the account and for creditworthiness become concrete.

How long does debt collection take in Austria?

How long debt collection takes in Austria is decided above all by the stage at which the debtor pays. Only a few deadlines are fixed by law, and those are exactly the ones worth planning around: 14 days to pay under the payment order, four weeks to object and three years until the claim is time-barred.

All deadlines from the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria, accessed July 2026. Not legal advice in an individual case.

There is no statutory deadline for the out-of-court stage. It ends when the debtor pays, or when you decide that further reminders will achieve nothing. How long the court needs for the payment order depends on the court and on the workload; the judiciary does not publish binding processing times, which is why we deliberately name only the deadlines that actually appear in the law. Which factors determine the duration in practice is explained in the guide How long does debt collection take in Austria?

The most important figure is a different one anyway: the three years. In Austria, claims from goods and services become time-barred three years after the due date. Anyone who lets an unpaid invoice sit for two years ends up negotiating not about the claim, but about time.

What does a debt collection agency cost in Austria?

A debt collection agency in Austria charges its remuneration to the debtor, not to the creditor, and the amount is capped by the Debt Collection Maximum Rates Regulation. What actually reaches you is therefore decided not by the fee schedule but by the provider's business model.

Legal bases from the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria, accessed July 2026. Figures on incaseof.law: own data, as at July 2026.

The real difference between providers does not lie in the fees the debtor bears. It lies in the commission deducted from the money collected. Many traditional collection agencies keep a percentage of the amount recovered, so your principal claim reaches you reduced. incaseof.law does not deduct any commission: your principal claim stays with you in full, while the default costs are borne by the debtor. The complete breakdown is set out on the page covering debt collection costs.

If you want to work out what a specific unpaid invoice is now worth, the overview of unpaid invoices shows which interest and which flat sums you may add.

What is a debt collection agency allowed to do?

A debt collection agency in Austria may demand payment of outstanding claims, assert default interest and the statutory flat sum, and prepare court proceedings. It may not present itself as a public authority, may not charge more than the regulation permits, and may not threaten measures that are not legally available.

Permitted:

• reminding the debtor of the outstanding claim in writing, by telephone and by email
• claiming default interest, between businesses at 9.2 percentage points above the base rate, otherwise at four percent
• adding the statutory flat sum of 40 euros in business-to-business transactions
• charging its own remuneration, as long as it stays within the maximum rates of the regulation
• offering instalment agreements and deferrals
• preparing the court application and filing it through the electronic legal communication system

Not permitted:

• creating the impression of being a court or a public authority
• threatening enforcement while no enforceable title exists
• charging more than the Debt Collection Maximum Rates Regulation allows
• processing or passing on the debtor's data without a legal basis
• pursuing a claim that evidently does not exist

Whether a provider may offer debt collection in Austria at all can be checked in two minutes: every licensed collection institute is entered in the Austrian Business Licence Information System with a GISA number. You will find incaseof.law there under number 32140156, and in Germany additionally in the Legal Services Register of the Federal Office of Justice. What debtors themselves can expect is explained on the page for debtors. Further criteria for choosing a provider, particularly in Germany, are listed in the guide How to spot a reputable collection agency.

When to go out of court, when to go to court?

Stay out of court as long as the claim is young, the customer has paid reliably so far, or the invoice is disputed on the merits. Choose the court route when the debtor does not react to several demands, when the amount is high, or when the claim is approaching the limitation period.

Arguments for the out-of-court route:

• the invoice is only a few weeks overdue
• the customer otherwise pays on time, an oversight is likely
• the customer disputes the service, where clarification is faster than proceedings
• the amount is small and the customer relationship should be preserved

Arguments for the court route:

• two or more demands have gone entirely unanswered
• the claim is undisputed and well documented
• the amount justifies the court fee
• the three-year period is drawing closer
• the debtor is known as a repeat case

This decision cannot be made across the board, because it depends on three variables: the size of the claim, the age of the claim and the payment history so far. Those are exactly the three variables incaseof.law uses to steer escalation, without you having to assess every case individually. The page on how incaseof.law works shows the sequence step by step.

Which mistakes cost creditors the most money?

The most expensive mistake in handling unpaid invoices is waiting. The value of a claim falls as it ages, because reachability, ability to pay and the evidence all deteriorate, and after three years the claim is time-barred.

Five mistakes come up again and again:

• Acting too late. Anyone who only reacts after six months is negotiating against the limitation period and against a weaker ability to pay.
• Not documenting. Without evidence of the service, the invoice and its delivery, every court application becomes vulnerable.
• Treating all customers alike. A long-standing customer who has overlooked an invoice needs a different approach than a customer where this repeats every quarter.
• Escalating in tone instead of in procedure. Pressure in a letter is no substitute for a title. What works is the next formal step, not the sharper adjective.
• Doing everything yourself. From the second unsuccessful reminder onwards, your own working time usually costs more than the procedure would.

Send demands yourself or instruct a collection institute?

As long as you are simply reminding someone about an invoice, doing it yourself is the right route. As soon as you are sending a second demand and the customer does not react, handing the claim to a licensed collection institute is usually the cheaper decision, because from that point your working time costs more than the procedure.

In practice that means three things:

• You write the first reminder yourself, with a clear deadline and a reference to default interest.
• From the second unsuccessful reminder you hand over. You can submit the claim online and start debt collection, under the terms, with no minimum volume.
• For companies based in the capital, jurisdiction, address and process are summarised in the guide on debt collection in Vienna.

incaseof.law is a state-licensed debt collection institute in Austria, registered in Germany. The model has been confirmed by the Supreme Court, and your principal claim stays with you in full. What happens after handover is set out step by step under how incaseof.law works. For claims against customers in Germany, the guide Instructing a collection agency online shows how the handover works.

This guide explains the legal position in Austria in general terms and does not replace advice in an individual case. Status of the provisions cited: July 2026.