As part of the inGOV pilot project, stakeholders and users in Lower Austria are actively involved in the digitalization of the overnight stay tax (Section 12 of the Lower Austrian Tourism Act 2010). The overnight stay tax is a joint state tax, which is collected by the municipalities in their delegated sphere of action. Different solutions are being investigated with the goal to minimize manual steps in the levy, simplify processes and reduce errors through digitalization.

What is the starting position?

Currently, data for the overnight stay tax is transmitted manually from accommodation providers to municipalities or their representatives, who subsequently transfer it to the Office of the Lower Austrian Federal Government by means of an Excel form. In some cases, this can lead to undesired discrepancies in the data when it is entered or processed further. In case of any issues, additional communication via e-mail or telephone is required.

This graphic shows which main process steps are necessary. Regarding process 0 there are many established software systems. For process 1 there is also some software solutions available, but often only manual data transmission is used. For process 2 there is only manual data transfer.

What activities are being carried out in order to create a good solution for end users?

For a more efficient and better collection of the overnight stay tax, the focus of the research project is on the improvement of processes 1 and 2. Different stakeholders undertook interviews carried out by the University of Continuing Education in Krems (inGOV partner) and participated in numerous workshops. Stakeholders include end-users of accommodation providers of different sizes, interest groups of accommodation providers (e.g. hotels, farm accommodation and private room accommodation), end-users in municipalities, tax collection associations and employees of the Office of the Lower Austrian Federal Government (experts from different departments).

What positive interim results have already been achieved through co-creation?

Numerous invitations to co-creation activities to stakeholders from different areas (including invitations to 573 Lower Austrian municipalities) were the basis for generating involvement in this research project. During workshops, areas, which could be simplified and thus save time and manual work for the end users, were identified in the existing process. In addition, data that in the future could be made publicly available in an even better and more open form (e.g., through Open Government Data) was identified. Additionally other local stakeholders heard about the inGOV research project from other workshop participants and were able to engage in further activities afterwards.

What are the next steps?

Based on end-user feedback from the workshops, existing processes were outlined, new ones will be designed and these will be tested in regards to technical feasibility in the next phase (existing interfaces, authentication, etc.). Further concrete co-creation activities are planned to be carried out in the fall of 2022 and beyond to evaluate initial technical designs with interested end-users from the participating process sections and gather their feedback.

Also get involved now!

If you are an accommodation provider, software developer, municipality or other stakeholder interested in participating in co-creation workshops or other activities, we would be happy to hear from you!