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Overnight Money (Tagesgeld)
An instant-access savings deposit with a variable interest rate — full liquidity and deposit insurance up to €100,000, but with a rate that the bank can adjust at any time.
Definition
Tagesgeld (overnight money, instant-access savings) is a deposit with daily availability and a variable interest rate. Unlike Festgeld (term deposits), the investor is not locked in for a fixed period — withdrawals are possible at any time. In return, the bank can adjust the rate in either direction at any moment.
Legally these are sight deposits payable on demand under the Austrian Banking Act (BWG) or its German counterpart (KWG). Deposits are covered up to €100,000 per customer and bank by the national deposit-guarantee scheme — Einlagensicherung AUSTRIA in Austria, Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken (EdB) in Germany.
Market backdrop in 2026
After the ECB's rate-cutting cycle pushed the deposit facility rate down to 1.75% in early June 2026, top conditions in the Austrian market have fallen sharply. Direct banks still advertised more than 4% per year in spring 2024; today (June 2026) the leading offers sit between 1.8% and 2.4% for new clients, often as promotional rates running for three to six months.
A practical caveat: promotional rates typically apply only to a capped balance (say €100,000) and to a limited window. Once that ends, the rate often slides to 0.3-0.8%. Anyone wanting the best yield must actively switch providers — known in the English-speaking world as rate-chasing.
Tax treatment in Austria
Interest income from Tagesgeld is subject to Austrian capital gains tax (KESt) at 27.5% following the 2022 reform (previously 25% for savings interest). Domestic banks withhold the tax automatically and remit it to the tax office — the investor receives the net amount.
It is different for accounts held abroad within the EU (Trade Republic in Germany, Revolut in Lithuania): the investor must self-declare and include the interest in their Austrian income-tax return. The double-taxation treaty rules out double taxation, but the administrative burden falls on the customer.
Tagesgeld versus money-market ETFs
An increasingly popular alternative is money-market ETFs such as the Xtrackers EUR Overnight Rate Swap UCITS ETF or the Amundi Euro Overnight Return UCITS ETF. These track the €STR rate — the unsecured euro overnight rate — minus a minimal TER of roughly 0.1%. They trade on exchange every day, carry no promotional clauses and have no upper limit.