Individuals can now feed electricity from tax-free PV

Solar energy thrives. This is also demonstrated by current figures from PV Austria, which shows a real record year for 2021: a peak of 540 megawatts (MWp) of PV was newly installed the previous year – this corresponds to a double expansion compared to 2020 overall, with capacity PV installed to date covers nearly five percent of Austria’s electricity demand. However, in times of skyrocketing energy prices, the PV boom is also producing exotic blooms – from a tax standpoint. If the grid is fed with electricity from private PV systems, payments to the grid operator are subject to income tax if the income exceeds the tax-exempt amount of €730. It is precisely this limitation of tax liability that is now often exceeded because electricity prices are at record levels.

“This is another step towards energy independence.”

A development going in the wrong direction, as renewable energies are supposed to be promoted. Countermeasures have now been taken and a change has been initiated in the law, according to which a tax concession has been granted: this means that there is no longer any tax obligation to feed a maximum of 12,500 kWh of electricity from PV systems, provided that the bottleneck output of the system in question does not exceed the 25 kW limit . If the PV system is jointly operated by several people, each person is entitled to tax exemption individually.

“This change in the law is another step towards energy independence,” says Johannes Weiss, Managing Director of Guild of Electrical Engineers at WKO Styria.