Austria's financial police said it issued around €750,000 in fines for illegal gambling in the first quarter of 2024. During the same period in 2023, the financial police issued €492,000 in fines, “mostly related to several large cases in the Salzburg area,” according to a June 6 press release . In total, the financial police carried out 42 inspections of gambling operators, as a result of which 32 criminal cases were initiated.

According to Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner, the financial police regularly carry out targeted audits to protect the financial interests of the Republic and crack down on tax and social fraud, undeclared work and illegal gambling. This is the only way to protect honest companies. 

Verified 15,000 people in 7,100 companies 

In the first quarter of 2024, the Financial Fraud Office's financial police probed almost 15,000 employees at around 7,100 companies as part of a crackdown on tax evasion and social fraud. This resulted in almost 2,100 criminal charges with a total fine of more than €4.8 million. Most offenses related to violations of the Foreign Employment Law (872), followed by undeclared work (787) and the Wage and Social Dumping Prevention Law (410). In the area of ​​illegal gambling, fines of almost €750,000 have been imposed. 

The number of fictitious companies has increased again

Development in the area of ​​shell companies continues to be problematic. In the first three months of this year, 39 fictitious companies were already identified - in the same period last year there were 28. For the first time, a reversal of the trend was observed in the posting of workers from abroad: if in the first quarter of 2023 there were about 54,600 cases, then this year this figure is just under 47,150.

New Anti-Fraud Law will strengthen Austria's fight against shell companies

Austria is currently considering updating the Anti-Fraud Act to be able to take even more effective measures against various fraud scenarios, especially regarding shell companies. The focus is on promoting tax fairness and combating tax fraud, as well as strengthening legal certainty and protecting the fair economy from illegal and anti-competition practices.

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