Last update: 25 February 2026

Retention obligation for delivery notes

Delivery notes are documents that must be retained by law and kept available for presentation at any time for seven years from the end of the financial year in which the delivery was made. Delivery notes must be uploaded to the incoming invoice book in SAP (REB) as an additional document to the invoice in a clearly legible form to ensure that they are stored in an audit-proof manner. 

Processing of credit notes

Credit notes, just like incoming invoices, must be entered and recorded in the REB immediately upon receipt. Credit notes are balanced against incoming invoices, if any, so that the reduced amount is paid to the supplier. In exceptional cases, the supplier may transfer the credit note amount to us within 14 days. In this case, the invoice in the REB must be marked with a payment block by the institute and the note ‘Money will be transferred’ must be entered. Once a month, during the dunning run, a check is made to see whether the money has been received. If not, the creditor is informed by the Bursar's Office by means of a payment reminder. The sending of the payment reminder is documented in the notes field of the invoice in the REB.

Petty cash/advance payments

We would like to remind you that petty cash may only be used for entertaining guests. The original receipts for these purchases must be submitted to the Bursar's Office by the end of the following month at the latest. Costs incurred in the course of excursions, such as coach hire and meals, must be processed via the incoming invoice book (REB).

Permissibility of tips

Tips on restaurant bills are permitted up to a maximum of 10% and must be printed on the incoming invoice. Tips for bus trips, etc. cannot be taken from the petty cash fund or refunded. These can be collected privately on the bus, for example.

Deadlines for refunds and private sales

Refunds and private sales must be submitted within 3 months of the invoice date. Older invoices can still be settled during the transition period until 31 March 2026, provided that the invoice date is after 31 March 2023 (limitation period) and all approvals have been completed by then. From 1 April 2026, applications with an invoice date more than 3 months ago will be rejected.

Timely creation of orders

Currently, orders over 1,000.00 euros are often only created upon receipt of the invoice. We would like to remind you to create these orders in SAP before placing the order with the supplier and to send them to the supplier with the instruction to include the order number on the invoice.

Intrastat data

For orders from other EU countries, Intrastat data must always be included on all invoices. If no Intrastat data is available, the collective Intrastat number 9950 0000 can be entered for a total invoice amount of less than  Euro 200.00. If the Intrastat data for invoices over 200.00 euro is not shown on either the invoice or the delivery note, a corrected invoice must be requested from the supplier.

For orders of Euro 200.00 or more with several different product groups, the product number for each order item must be entered in the Intrastat data. If goods numbers are not available in the SAP system, please contact Monika Graf-Stücke by email to discuss how to proceed.

From the beginning of March, invoices over Euro 200.00 can only be paid with complete Intrastat data. 

Information hotline and on-site training at the institutes

Until further notice, the Bursar's Office is offering to visit the institutes on a one-off basis for training purposes upon request. During this training, participants will practise entering incoming invoices and recording refunds and private sales, and the underlying specifications and guidelines will be discussed. We cordially invite you to take advantage of this training opportunity and to contact our training and quality representative Monika Graf-Stücke by email.
Information hotline on Wednesday: Monika Graf-Stücke, tel. no.: +43 1 58801 407133