Budgeting App for Expats in Austria

Austria uses the euro¹. If you're legally resident in the EU, you're entitled to a basic payment account, and a bank can't turn you down only because you don't live in the country².

Borderless Budget connects to major Austrian banks including Erste Bank, Bank Austria, and BAWAG through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.

Major banks for expats

• Erste Bank
• Bank Austria
• BAWAG

Cash vs. card culture

Austria still leans on cash. In the national bank's 2025 payment study, 55% of in-store transactions were paid in cash, though only 45% of in-store spending by value, and 94% of people want to keep cash as an option³. Larger amounts are more often paid digitally³, so expect to use both.

Austrian pay can include a 13th and 14th salary, paid as holiday and Christmas pay⁸. If yours does, budget from the regular monthly salary and treat the two extra payments as their own line.

Your day-to-day life in Austria runs on euros, but income or savings in another currency move with the exchange rate. Track what each transfer actually delivered in euros rather than the rate you saw on the news, and the real cost of living becomes visible over a few months. Within the EU, a euro payment to another member state costs the same as a domestic one⁹.

Transferring money to Austria

• Your bank must charge the same for a euro transfer to another EU country as for a domestic one⁹, so keeping a euro account elsewhere in the EU costs nothing extra to move money from.
• If you're paid in another currency, compare a transfer service's rate with your bank's before each conversion.
• Convert a month of euro spending at a time rather than topping up as you go. Fewer conversions are easier to track and to budget.

Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Austrian bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.

• Austrian residents are taxed on their worldwide income¹⁰. For 2026 the rates run from 0% on income up to €13,539, through 20%, 30%, 40% and 48%, to 50% above €104,859 and 55% above €1 million¹⁰.
• The 13th and 14th salaries are taxed favourably: within a limit of two average monthly salaries, the first €620 is tax-free and the next €24,380 is taxed at 6%⁸.
• Employee social security contributions total 18.07% of gross pay, up to a ceiling of €6,930 a month⁷. Austria has no wealth tax⁷.
• The tax year is the calendar year, income tax is generally withheld from salaries, and where a return is required it's due by 30 April on paper or the end of June when filed electronically¹¹.
• The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live¹².

1. If your pay includes a 13th and 14th salary, set your monthly plan on the regular salary and decide in advance what the two extra payments are for, whether that's travel, savings or the year's big bills.
2. Ask whether a quoted rent includes Betriebskosten. The official averages include running costs⁴, so a bare rent figure isn't comparable.
3. Interest on Austrian bank savings is taxed at 25%, withheld by the bank as a final tax⁸. Budget savings interest after that deduction.
4. Keep some cash. Cash still accounts for most in-store transactions³, so a small cash line keeps market and café spending visible.
5. Keep home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency so you can see what Austria actually costs you.

Connect your Austrian and home-country banks

Link your Erste Bank, Bank Austria, BAWAG, or other Austrian bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.

Budget in EUR and your home currency

Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in euro or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.

Automatic categorization

Transactions from Austrian merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in Austria.

See the impact of exchange rates

When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.