Austrian Obudsman BoardAustrian Obudsman Board LogoLink to homepage

Reimbursement of the Vienna parking sticker to the wrong account

Mr K. from Vienna-Donaustadt wanted to help his father return his parking sticker after he had already deregistered his car. Mr K. therefore applied for a refund online, entered all the data including his father's licence plate number and accidentally wrote his own name in the "First name" field. As a result, the City of Vienna did not refund the father's parking ticket, but that of his son. It justified this with a telephone call by the responsible clerk, which he had made with Mr K. and recorded in a file note, and charged Mr K. a processing fee of 50 euros. However, Mr K. denied that he had ever spoken to a clerk on the phone in this matter and complained to the Ombudsman Board.

The Austrian Ombudsman Board contacted the Mayor of Vienna and asked him for a statement as to the legal basis on which the aforementioned clerk had proceeded; the Federal Fiscal Code (BAO) only provides for the amendment of submissions in writing. The City of Vienna was also asked to send proof of exactly when the telephone call in question had taken place.

The City of Vienna based its procedure on the General Administrative Law (AVG). This was customer-friendly, as in the case of a written request to Mr K., the remittance would have been postponed to his disadvantage.

The Austrian Ombudsman Board stated that in the case of a refund of the parking metre charge, the BAO should be applied in any case. According to the judgement of the Administrative Court, the AVG was also not to be applied on a subsidiary basis. In addition, the City of Vienna tax authority should have requested a power of attorney from Mr K.'s father, which had been omitted. "The City of Vienna promised the Ombudsman Board that it would refund Mr K. the 50 euros he had paid as a processing fee for the correction of the incorrectly refunded parking ticket and that it would train its employees who deal with tax matters in the area of parking space management with regard to the relevant provisions of the BAO," said Ombudswoman Elisabeth Schwetz, expressing her satisfaction with the outcome.

Translation was AI-generated

Illustration of a Viennese parking sticker Vienna parking sticker (c) Wikimedia Commons/Gugerell