It is no longer necessary to print invoices with a value of less than 30 euros

Retail and restaurant companies are making a new attempt to eliminate paperwork related to invoicing. They insist on abolishing mandatory receipts for amounts under 30 euros, the Standard newspaper reported on Friday. Such guides would extend more than 1,500 kilometers per day and would therefore consume large amounts of wood, Kurt Egger, head of the ÖVP Economic Association, said in the Ö1 newspaper “Mittagsjournal”.

Christoph Matznetter, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and economic affairs spokesman for the SPÖ, like other officials in all parties, is pushing for a cap of 50 euros, below which receipts will not be issued unless consumers request it. According to Standard, the Chamber of Commerce agreed to a limit of 30 euros. The corresponding amendment was sent to the Economic Parliament in June. All parties agreed to this request.

It cannot come into effect until mid-2025 at the earliest

A corresponding change in the law could take effect in mid-2025 at the earliest, Matznetter said. The Ministry of Finance told ORF that they want to digitize the distribution of documents and are currently studying the proposal.

Some companies already offer the option to choose between a paper receipt and a digital invoice. In Spar, they saved 444 kilometers of paper in the first year. Lidl Austria claims to have saved itself 11.5 million vouchers.

However, the Chamber of Commerce has warned that customers will usually have to disclose their personal data in the event of a digital transformation. In addition, the rights surrounding the guarantee must also be taken into account, Gabriel Zgobec, an expert at the Labor Chamber, told the Standard.