Financial Crime World

Austria Defines Financial Fraud as a Serious Crime

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Austria has taken a significant step to combat financial fraud by consolidating its tax and social fraud units under the Federal Ministry of Finance’s Anti-Fraud Office. This move aims to ensure a coordinated and efficient nationwide operational control of the preventive and repressive fight against fraud.

The Anti-Fraud Office (ABB)

The Anti-Fraud Office is comprised of several business units, including:

  • Fiscal Offences
  • Financial Police
  • Tax Investigation
  • Central Office for International Cooperation

Fiscal Offences

The Sector Fiscal Offences is responsible for handling administrative financial criminal proceedings in accordance with the rule of law. The unit works closely with the criminal justice system to detect and punish financial offenses.

  • The sector is divided into:
    • 19 teams
    • An operational legal unit
    • A collection/penalties team

Financial Police

The Financial Police is a professional investigation and control unit that carries out targeted controls to detect:

  • Tax evasion
  • Social fraud
  • Organized shadow economy
  • Illegal gambling

The central task of the Financial Police is to protect the financial interests of the Republic of Austria.

  • The unit consists of:
    • 42 operational teams
    • Data Information and Processing Centre
    • Central Coordination
    • Legal Service
    • Organizational team

Tax Investigation

The Sector Tax Investigation aims to combat systematic and organized tax fraud by:

  • Detecting repetitive tax evasion through proactive detection and combating of fraud schemes

  • Strengthening cooperation with foreign anti-fraud units and exchanging fraud-related information within the European Union

  • The sector consists of:

    • 12 investigation teams
    • 2 IT investigation teams
    • A legal unit
    • An organizational team

Central Office for International Cooperation

The Central Office for International Cooperation provides international assistance between authorities, including:

  • Administrative assistance for value-added tax and other taxes

  • Enforcement

  • Legal assistance for financial offenses

  • Processing suspicious money laundering reports

  • The office consists of:

    • Two teams from the Central Liaison Office (CLO)
    • One team for International Cooperation in Fiscal Criminal Investigation (ICFI)
    • One team Eurofisc/Europol/Money Laundering