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The tax treatment of vehicles subject to the Heavy Traffic Charge (SVA) will be adjusted starting July 1, 2026. This change particularly affects the exemption from the Automobile Tax (ASt) for certain vehicles that fall under the Heavy Traffic Charge Act.
According to Article 12, Paragraph 1, Letter e of the Automobile Tax Act, automobiles subject to the SVA are exempt from the ASt. The SVA is levied on heavy motor vehicles and trailers used for the transport of goods or passengers. The Federal Council has the option to exempt certain types of vehicles or vehicles with special purposes from the SVA, as specified in the Heavy Traffic Charge Ordinance.
Previously, the regulation was interpreted such that only vehicles for which the SVA is actually paid are considered „subject to the Heavy Traffic Charge“ in the sense of the Automobile Tax Act. This led to the situation where automobiles with a permissible total weight of more than 3,500 kg, which are exempt from the SVA, were not exempt from the ASt.
The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) has now reviewed this practice and decided to standardize the distinction between the ASt and the SVA. In the future, the sole criterion for ASt exemption will be the charge object according to Article 1 of the Heavy Traffic Charge Ordinance. This means that all automobiles falling under the charge object of the SVA will be exempt from the ASt, regardless of whether they are exempt from the SVA or not.
An example of this regulation is ambulances with a permissible total weight of more than 3,500 kg. These vehicles are exempt from tax under both the Automobile Tax Act and the Heavy Traffic Charge Ordinance. Therefore, for such ambulances, neither the ASt nor the SVA will need to be paid in the future.
The new regulation will apply to all affected automobiles whose customs declaration is accepted after June 30, 2026. In the customs declaration, the vehicles must be marked as tax-exempt with the additional charge type code (ZUAC) 660 and the additional charge key (ZUSCHL) 002.
