Advertising for bookkeeping and payroll firms in Austria: plenty of freedom, one hard limit

More room to manoeuvre than in tax advice

Anyone who has worked at a tax advisory firm is often cautious about advertising. Wirtschaftstreuhänder:innen (tax advisers and auditors) are indeed subject to their own professional rules. For the bookkeeping professions it is different: the Bilanzbuchhaltungsberufe-Ausübungsrichtlinie 2014 (professional practice guidelines for bookkeepers) covers professional conduct, continuing education and money laundering, but has no section on advertising. The Wirtschaftskammer Oberösterreich (Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce) states that there are no special restrictions on advertising these services.

That does not mean anything goes. The general rules apply: the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (UWG) (unfair competition law) with its ban on misleading statements, the E-Commerce-Gesetz with the duty to make advertising recognisable as such, and the TKG 2021 for calls, emails and text messages. Above all of this is the Bilanzbuchhaltungsgesetz (BiBuG, Bookkeeping Professions Act) itself, with a provision that matters more in practice than anything else.

The hard limit: offering without authorisation

§ 61 Abs. 1 Z 1 BiBuG penalises anyone who independently carries out or offers activities under §§ 2 to 4 BiBuG without the required authorisation, with fines of up to 20,000 euros. The Bezirksverwaltungsbehörde (district administrative authority) is responsible. Advertising is an offer. A menu item “Tax returns”, a Google ad saying “Have your balance sheet prepared” or an Instagram post “We handle your payroll” can therefore already constitute the offence if the authorisation is missing. For tax returns and tax advice, which none of the three professions may offer, the same applies under § 124 Abs. 1 Z 1 WTBG 2017, again with fines of up to 20,000 euros.

If you want to use the word “Steuererklärung” (tax return) at all, the WKO recommends a fixed addition in its FAQ on the scope of authorisation: “Steuererklärungen im Rahmen des Berechtigungsumfanges gem. § 2 Bilanzbuchhaltungsgesetz” (tax returns within the scope of authorisation under § 2 BiBuG). For annual accounts, the reference to § 2 Abs. 1 Z 2 BiBuG belongs with it. In most cases it is clearer to say concretely what you do, for example “employee tax assessments for your staff” or “annual accounts for small GmbHs”.

Wording for your website and ads

Pay attention to images and symbols too. A hero image with the text “Ihre Steuerkanzlei in Wels” (your tax firm in Wels) is misleading, even if the list of services below it is correct. The same applies to domains and company names containing “Steuer” (tax) if you have no authorisation to give tax advice.

Professional title, company name and specialisation

Use the professional title you were granted, in the feminine form if you like: “Bilanzbuchhalterin”, “Buchhalter”, “Personalverrechnerin”. As a member of the Wirtschaftskammer (Chamber of Commerce) you can choose your company name freely; truthful additions such as “Bilanzbuchhaltungsbüro” (bookkeeping office) or “Lohnbüro” (payroll office) are permitted. The titles Steuerberater:in and Wirtschaftstreuhänder:in, on the other hand, are protected under the Wirtschaftstreuhandberufsgesetz and off limits for you.

A specialisation is one of the most effective selling points in bookkeeping. “Bookkeeping for construction companies” or “payroll for hotels and restaurants” is allowed as long as it is true. Under the UWG, such a statement must be provable: through a significant share of clients from that sector, through experience or through training. “The expert for hospitality in Tyrol”, by contrast, is a claim to uniqueness that you would have to prove in a dispute. Better to phrase it factually: “focus on hospitality, more than 40 businesses in Tyrol looked after”.

References, testimonials and confidentiality

References work, especially in a sector where trust is everything. But there is a hurdle that other traders do not face: you are bound to confidentiality under § 39 BiBuG. Even the fact that a company is your client can fall under it. A breach also carries a fine of up to 20,000 euros under § 61 Abs. 1 Z 2 BiBuG.

Google reviews and other platforms

Reviews on Google, Herold or other platforms are permitted and valuable for local search. Since the 2022 amendment, however, the UWG expressly prohibits posting or commissioning fake reviews, and claiming that reviews come from real customers without checking this appropriately (annex to the UWG, Z 23b and 23c). If you embed reviews on your website, say briefly where they come from.

Google itself prohibits incentives for reviews and asking only satisfied clients. It is permitted and effective to ask politely for feedback after completing the annual accounts or after the first smooth payroll run, for example with a QR code for Google reviews. You may reply to negative reviews, but without disclosing any details from the engagement, because confidentiality applies here as well. How to build your profile as a whole is explained in the article on the Google Business Profile.

Prices, packages and the free initial consultation

There is no fee scale for the bookkeeping professions; fees are agreed freely. You may therefore also advertise with prices, for example monthly packages based on the number of documents or a price per payslip. Under § 5 Abs. 2 ECG it must be clear whether a price includes VAT. For business clients, “net, plus 20 % VAT” is the usual wording.

A free initial consultation is permitted and common in the sector. Avoid bait offers that do not apply later: if you advertise a “from” price for monthly bookkeeping, you should actually offer that package for typical small businesses and state how many entries or documents are included.

Social media, Google Ads and newsletters

• Social media: LinkedIn is suited to contacts with tax advisory firms and businesses, Instagram to hospitality, retail and founders. Deadline reminders and short explanations of benefits in kind work well. Mark paid posts as advertising (§ 6 ECG).
• Google Ads: ad copy is an offer within the meaning of § 61 BiBuG. Do not bid on search terms such as “Steuererklärung” (tax return) if your ad then promises a service you are not allowed to provide. Combinations of service and place work well, such as “Lohnverrechnung Linz” (payroll Linz).
• Newsletters: under § 174 Abs. 3 TKG 2021, email marketing requires prior consent. Exception: you obtained the address in connection with an engagement, you are advertising similar services of your own and you have offered an easy way to unsubscribe (§ 174 Abs. 4).
• Telephone: marketing calls without prior consent are prohibited, including to businesses. A letter to businesses in your region, by contrast, is permitted.

Your website is where all channels come together, and where the district authority or a competitor will look if in doubt. Check your service descriptions there first, as well as the imprint for bookkeepers. For visibility in your region, the article on local SEO helps.