Home renovation most popular form of undeclared work in Austria: survey

A new survey into the Austrian shadow economy revealed that home and apartment renovations have by far the greatest proportion of undeclared work with 70 percent of such work carried out without paying tax.

The survey, commissioned by Linz-based researcher and economist Friedrich Schneider, revealed Friday, showed that 20 percent of car repairs are also done under the table, followed by cosmetics and hairdressing services at 12 percent, and housework at 11 percent, Kurier newspaper reported.

Private tutoring and gardening work both made up 9 percent, and child care 5 percent, the survey of 1000 Austrians aged 15 and over during January and February showed.

Schneider said only 5 percent of respondents thought such undocumented work should be reported to authorities, and only 2 percent believed significant fines should be given. He added this showed there is "practically no sense of wrongdoing involved in the shadow economy," and that these percentages have been relatively stable for the past 15 years.

About 70 percent said without tax-free work much is unaffordable nowadays, 65 percent said its existence at all is the fault of the state itself for making taxes so high, and 85 percent said they believed the state is "wasteful" with its usage of taxpayer funds.

Schneider had already said in February he believes the shadow economy in Austria will grow for the third year in a row to be worth 23 billion U.S. dollars or 8.14 percent of GDP in 2015, still the lowest rate within the European Union. He added the situation is not entirely negative for the state, as such illegally earned money finds its way back into the official economy quite quickly. Endit