There were actually proposals under President Truman for a division of Austria into East and West like in Germany. However, I think it's important to note that division was never the primary goal or the first choice of any party to the discussion; the "permanent" division of Germany was not the goal of the USSR and Stalin actually proposed the reunification of the USSR in 1952 (though the seriousness and viability of the proposal has been oft debated.) The soviets did not wish for a permanently divided Austria and sought options and solutions around that.

While Soviet administrations would have clearly preferred an Austria on the side of the East, the defeat of the Communist Party in Austria in multiple elections made it clear that that was likely an unachievable goal. Continued occupation of Austria didn't provide great benefit to the USSR (the military benefit was limited, the economic benefit was limited, and Austria unlike Germany had already maintained an Austrian government since the occupation which had increasing control of its government anyways.) Thus, negotiations for Austria's independence would take place and eventually, with the signing of the Austrian State Treaty, see to the formal re-establishment of Austria. Austria would immediately declare neutrality afterwards and the Soviets got the best that they could out of that deal: a neutral, unified Austria.

Hey there,

Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.

If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!