On 17 December 2001 the Ministry of Finance released an instruction introducing a new and simplified system for the refund of Austrian withholding taxes under the regime of double taxation conventions. The key element of the new system is the introduction of a new tax form which can be used uniformly by the residents of all treaty countries. The form will be distributed in German and in English and will become available in a download-version from the home-page of the Federal Ministry of Finance (www.bmf.gv.at). The form for the repayment claim will have to be accompanied by supplementary sheets available for dividends (sheet A), royalties (sheet B) and other income (sheet C). The reorganisation of the relief procedure is, however, not yet completed as the instruction refers to the handling of the refund procedure only and does not specify when and under which conditions a relief at source system may be applied. This will have to be settled in a general ordinance which is in preparation.