This study discusses the potential effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the finances of households in Austria. Different individuals and households have been exposed to the crisis in very different ways and to varying degrees. In the first part of this study, we discuss different types of households and different channels through which the COVID-19 crisis may affect households’ financial situation. The second part of the study uses data from the Austrian Corona Panel Project (ACPP) carried out by the University of Vienna as well as data from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) for Austria to analyze (potential) impacts of the crisis. We find that those households who had already found themselves in a difficult social, economic and financial situation before the COVID-19 crisis were the ones suffering the largest income losses (e.g. low-income households or households with an unemployed reference person).