Moving from Germany to Austria (2026): Complete Guide

Germany and Austria are both EU member states, so a move along this corridor is an intra-European relocation, not an international one in the customs sense. There is no import declaration, no customs duty and no tax on your used household goods — the two countries share a customs union, a common market and, since both use the euro, even a currency. What actually needs organising is registration paperwork on arrival, closing out your German records on departure, and the logistics of getting a household’s worth of belongings from one country to the other. This guide is written for a resident of Germany relocating to Austria and covers exactly that, with every claim sourced to an official authority.

Key takeaways

• No customs, no duty, no import declaration. Household goods moving between EU customs-union members cross the internal border with no formalities and no charges — this is the core benefit of an EU-to-EU move (German Customs (Zoll); Council of the EU).
• You don’t need a visa or work permit. As an EU citizen you have the right to live and work in Austria under free movement of people — the real task is registration, not immigration (Your Europe).
• Deregister in Germany before or shortly after you leave. Moving abroad triggers a mandatory Abmeldung at your local Meldebehörde, generally within two weeks of moving out (Bundesportal).
• Register twice in Austria. A basic address registration (Meldezettel) is due within three days of moving in; EU citizens staying over three months separately need an Anmeldebescheinigung (EU registration certificate) within four months (oesterreich.gv.at).
• Your German driving licence stays valid — no exchange required. EU licences are mutually recognised across member states (Your Europe).
• Bringing your car isn’t duty-free. It escapes customs, but Austria still charges its national NoVA registration tax the first time a vehicle — new or used, domestic or imported — is registered there (BMF Austria; usp.gv.at).
• Health cover moves with you, but the mechanism changes. Short stays use the EHIC; a permanent move means enrolling in Austria’s statutory scheme (via your employer, or an S1 form in specific cases) (Your Europe – EHIC; Your Europe – health cover abroad).
• Pets travel on an EU pet passport, not a customs process — microchip first, rabies vaccination after (European Commission – Food Safety).

1. Free movement first: what actually applies to this move

Because both Germany and Austria are inside the EU customs union, goods move between them exactly as they would between two German states: no customs declaration, no duty, no VAT on used household effects, and in practice no border checks on the goods themselves. German Customs states plainly that shipments within the EU are treated as domestic movements for these purposes (Zoll.de), and the EU customs union is described by the Council of the EU as removing internal customs formalities entirely between member states (Consilium).

This is a genuinely different situation from moving to Switzerland (outside the EU/EEA customs area, where a formal customs declaration is required even though duty-free relief exists for genuine removal goods), to Norway or Iceland (EEA members but outside the EU customs union, so customs formalities still apply, again with removal-goods relief), or to the UK (fully outside both, with full customs procedures). None of that applies here — Germany to Austria is EU-to-EU.

What does still apply is free movement of people, which is a right, not an automatic status: you don’t need permission to move, but Austria still requires you to register your presence, and Germany still requires you to close out your official residence there. The rest of this guide covers those two processes plus the practical logistics in between.

For the practical side of the move – crews, customs paperwork and a fixed price – start here: removal company to Germany.

2. Leaving Germany: what to close out

• Deregister your address (Abmeldung). If you’re giving up your only German residence, § 17 of the Bundesmeldegesetz requires deregistration at the Einwohnermeldeamt, at the earliest a week before you move and generally within two weeks after. You can typically do this online (for newer registrations), by post, or in person, and you’ll receive an Abmeldebestätigung confirming your departure date (Bundesportal).
• End your unlimited German tax liability. Your German Wohnsitz (domicile) is what keeps you fully taxable in Germany; deregistering it, and genuinely giving up any German dwelling still available to you, ends unlimited tax liability on your departure date. After that you’re taxed in Germany only on German-source income (Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg). If you hold a stake of 1% or more in a company, check whether Germany’s exit-tax rules on unrealised gains (§ 6 Außensteuergesetz) apply before you move — this is a narrow rule aimed at substantial shareholders, but has real consequences if it applies to you (Bundesfinanzministerium).
• Health insurance. Your German statutory or private insurer needs to know you’re leaving; for short trips before you enrol in Austria your German-issued EHIC still gives you access to state healthcare across the EU on the same terms as locals, but it is not a substitute for registering with Austria’s system once you actually live there (Your Europe).
• Driving licence: nothing to do here — a German (EU) licence keeps working in Austria without conversion.
• Vehicle, if you’re bringing one. Deregister it at your German Zulassungsstelle. If you intend to drive it to Austria yourself rather than transport it, you’ll need an Ausfuhrkennzeichen (export plate, recognisable by its red stripe and printed expiry date), which is valid for a period you choose up to twelve months and is tracked centrally by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA).
• Everything else on the list: cancel or redirect your Rundfunkbeitrag, notify your bank, employer, pension provider and insurers of your new address, and set up mail redirection — none of these are customs matters, they’re simply the paperwork of leaving.

3. How your belongings actually move

Once collected, a household shipment from Germany to Austria travels by road — this corridor is short enough, and the road network good enough, that rail or sea freight essentially never come into play for a domestic-scale EU move like this. The realistic routing depends on where in each country you’re moving between:

• From southern Germany (Munich, Stuttgart) into Austria, trucks typically run via the A8/A93 through Salzburg towards Vienna, Linz or Graz — often same-day or next-day driving distance.
• From central/northern Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg), routing usually follows the A3/A9 corridor down through Nuremberg and Passau or Salzburg, adding a day or so of driving.
• Berlin–Vienna is roughly 680 km by road; Frankfurt–Vienna roughly 600 km; Munich–Vienna roughly 430 km.

Realistic freight-industry transit-time estimates for these distances: a dedicated (sole-use) truck typically covers Germany–Austria door-to-door in 1–3 days depending on the specific origin and destination; a shared/groupage load, where your goods travel alongside other customers’ shipments and the truck makes several stops, more commonly takes anywhere from a few days to one to two weeks depending on how the route is consolidated. These are planning estimates, not guarantees — actual timing depends on the mover’s schedule, load consolidation, and access conditions (lift availability, parking permits, narrow streets) at both ends. No customs stop factors into any of these numbers, because none is required.

4. Arriving in Austria: what you must register, and where

Austria’s registration system is split into two separate steps, and both apply even though you don’t need a residence permit as an EU citizen:

1. Meldezettel (address registration). Everyone living in Austria — regardless of nationality — must register their address with the local Meldebehörde (in Vienna, at a Residence Registration Service Centre) within three days of moving in, with your landlord’s confirmation (City of Vienna). This is purely an address record, not a residence right.
2. Anmeldebescheinigung (EU registration certificate). Separately, if you plan to stay more than three months, EU/EEA citizens must apply for this registration certificate confirming their free-movement right of residence, within four months of arrival. You’ll need proof of the reason for residence (employment contract, self-employment, studies), proof of sufficient means, and proof of health insurance (oesterreich.gv.at).

Healthcare. If you take up employment in Austria, your employer registers you with the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK) and deducts contributions automatically; you’re issued an e-card for accessing care. If you’re not employed locally — for example you’re a cross-border worker, posted worker, or pensioner drawing German pension income — you may instead need to bring an S1 form from your German health insurer to register your entitlement with the ÖGK (Your Europe; ÖGK).

Tax registration. As a private individual you generally don’t need to proactively apply for an Austrian tax number — you receive one automatically once you file your first Austrian tax return with your local Finanzamt, at which point you also become liable on your worldwide income as an Austrian tax resident (broadly: permanent home or 183+ days in Austria) (usp.gv.at).

Driving licence. Nothing is required. EU driving licences are recognised throughout the EU without conversion; you may voluntarily exchange for an Austrian licence if you want a local document, but it isn’t mandatory the way it is for non-EU licences (Your Europe; oesterreich.gv.at).

Vehicle re-registration. If you’re keeping your car long-term in Austria, it needs Austrian plates. This is where the one genuine tax surprise on this corridor sits: registering any vehicle in Austria for the first time — even one you’ve owned and driven for years in Germany — triggers NoVA (Normverbrauchsabgabe), a national vehicle registration tax based on the vehicle’s value and emissions, calculated and paid to your local tax office as part of registration. It is not a customs duty and it is not related to the intra-EU goods movement — it’s Austria’s own registration tax applied to every car registered there, domestic or brought in (BMF Austria; usp.gv.at).

5. Moving with pets

Dogs, cats and ferrets travel between EU countries on an EU pet passport, not through any customs process. The pet must be microchipped before its rabies vaccination is administered (vaccination given without a prior chip doesn’t count), and the passport — issued by any authorised vet — records the chip number and vaccination history. There’s a mandatory wait after a first rabies vaccination before travel is permitted (European Commission – Food Safety; Your Europe). Get the passport arranged well before your move date — a same-day vet visit right before travel won’t satisfy the timing requirements.

6. Money, banking, and things people forget

Because Germany and Austria share the euro, there’s no currency conversion to plan around and no cross-border exchange-rate risk on your budget — a real simplification compared with almost any non-eurozone move. SEPA transfers and direct debits work identically between German and Austrian IBANs, so you don’t strictly need an Austrian bank account on day one, though most people open one for local salary payments, rent, and utility direct debits. Beyond that, the things people typically forget on this corridor: cancelling or transferring German insurance policies (household, liability, health top-ups) that don’t automatically extend to Austria; updating your address with your German pension provider and any German employer-linked benefits; forwarding mail; and re-registering children in Austrian schools, which has its own local enrolment process separate from anything covered here.

How Flyto handles your Germany to Austria move

Flyto runs its own offices, warehouses, trucks and moving teams across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, and we route Germany–Austria shipments through that in-house network wherever it gives you the fastest, most controlled transit. Where local coverage calls for it — a rural pickup point, a tight delivery window, a specific Alpine route — we bring in a carefully vetted partner carrier from our subcontractor network rather than compromising on service, so you always get one accountable point of contact for the whole move.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a visa or work permit to move from Germany to Austria?
No. As an EU citizen you have the right to live and work in Austria without a visa or work permit; you do need to complete Austria’s registration steps after arrival (Your Europe).

Will my furniture and boxes go through customs?
No. Household goods move freely between Germany and Austria as EU customs-union members — no declaration, no duty (Zoll.de).

How quickly do I need to register once I arrive in Austria?
Your address (Meldezettel) within three days; your EU registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung) within four months (oesterreich.gv.at).

Do I need to swap my German driving licence for an Austrian one?
No, it isn’t required — EU licences are mutually recognised. You can exchange voluntarily if you’d like an Austrian document (Your Europe).

Will I have to pay tax on my car when I bring it to Austria?
Not customs duty, but yes to Austria’s own NoVA registration tax, charged whenever a vehicle is first registered in the country (BMF Austria).

What happens to my health insurance during and after the move?
Your EHIC covers you for temporary needs across the EU; once you’re actually resident in Austria, you register in Austria’s statutory scheme via your employer or, in specific situations, an S1 form from your German insurer (Your Europe).

Sources

• German Customs (Zoll) – Shipments within the EU
• Council of the EU – The EU customs union
• Bundesportal – Deregister residence (Abmeldung)
• Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg – Unlimited/limited tax liability
• Bundesfinanzministerium – Wegzugsbesteuerung (§ 6 AStG)
• Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt – Ausfuhrkennzeichen
• Your Europe – EHIC
• Your Europe – Health insurance cover in your host country
• Your Europe – Registering residence abroad after the first 3 months
• Your Europe – Driving licence exchange and recognition
• European Commission – Travelling with a pet within the EU
• City of Vienna – Registration and notice of change
• oesterreich.gv.at – EU citizens: registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung)
• oesterreich.gv.at – Foreign driving licences: conversion
• ÖGK – Europäische Krankenversicherungskarte
• BMF Austria – Importing a vehicle for personal use
• usp.gv.at – Standardised consumption tax (NoVA)
• usp.gv.at – Income tax return