The COVID aid is history. The audits are not. What business owners should know now.
The tax authorities are still auditing.
- €158.8 million in established repayment claims
- > 11,700 audit measures to date
- ≈ 2,400 of them in the last six months alone
Source: BMF (Federal Ministry of Finance), report on the review of COVID support measures, as at 30 June 2026
This is where the tax authorities look most closely.
Corporate groups:
- 193 groups comprising around 1,200 companies
- 105 of them already audited
- ≈ €45 million in repayment volume
In April 2026, the OGH (Supreme Court) confirmed the approach taken by the tax authorities.
“Who belongs to the group?” – often asked only years later.
What nobody questioned at the time is now on the audit table.
- Shareholdings and control relationships
- Trust arrangements
- Links through shared shareholders
Applied for correctly? Then you must also be able to prove it.
- Applications and calculations from back then
- Evidence of turnover and fixed costs
- Shareholder and ownership structure at the time of application
Documents 2020–2022: to hand, not in the cellar
An open audit is also a balance sheet issue.
If an audit is under way or a repayment demand looms, this also affects the annual financial statements. Whether as a provision or a disclosure in the notes – the risk belongs on the table.
From audit practice: this is a question I would rather put to management sooner than later.
My view: don’t wait until the letter arrives.
If you check now whether the assumptions made back then still hold today, you negotiate from a better position.
As an expert witness, I see this: clean documentation is what counts – not memories of back then.
Conclusion
COVID support measures are not a closed chapter.
Review the structure, secure the documents, assess the risk in the financial statements.
Questions? Please contact me directly.