The Hungarian Parliament approved certain amendments to the Hungarian Corporate Income Tax Act in July 2019.

The Hungarian tax authority prepares the personal income tax returns for everyone it has employer information about, whether they are employees, primary producers, private individuals liable for the payment of VAT or individual entrepreneurs.

IT systems are evolving rapidly: cloud-based solutions, artificial intelligence and automated processes are all making businesses, organizations, and communities more and more efficient. Compared to the 2 billion internet users in 2015, at the end of 2017 there were approximately 3.8 billion internet users worldwide. It is estimated that by 2022 there will be 6 billion internet users (75% of the population that will grow to 8 billion by then) and by 2030 they will reach 7.5 billion (90% of the projected 8.5 billion population). This increase of usage of IT technologies, and the ever growing number of internet users naturally mean more cyber-attacks and hacking activity, that come with a price: much more attention than usual has to be paid to IT security.

A new act on vocational training entered into force on 1 January 2020.

As of 1 January 2020, a new tax allowance is available under the Hungarian Personal Income Tax Act, which provides for that mothers raising four or more children might be exempted from the payment of personal income tax.

Online sales in the EU are estimated to worth €550 billion a year – €96 billion of which is cross-border. The new EU VAT system for e-commerce aims to give simpler value added tax (VAT) rules and administration for businesses and measures for Member States to tackle VAT fraud related to e-commerce.

The most relevant provisions of the act on the amendment of certain justice laws entered into force on 1 January 2020, affecting among others the Public Notary Act, the Company Registry Act and the Forensic Expert Act.

The Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) has announced a new program, for the purpose of providing capital requirement benefits to those credit institutions based in Hungary that offer so called green loans for energy efficient housing goals (purchase, building or refurbishment) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023. During this time period, these credit institutions will receive capital requirement benefits (5 to 7% depending on the energy efficiency of the related property) after the provided green loans, and the customers taking out these loans are eligible for lower, discounted rates.

In December 2019 the Hungarian Parliament adopted a law resulting in that all Supreme Court rulings become precedents.

Former EY Tax Manager Balint Zsoldos has been appointed the new Head of Tax at the KCG Partners Law Firm in Budapest.

The National Tax and Customs Administration (“Authority”) has presented its vision for the future at a taxation conference held at the end of November 2019. The Authority has outlined that the emphasis will continuously be on the tax inspection of companies alongside with seizing the benefits of digitalisation and development. The principal objective of the Authority is to promote and enforce compliance with legal obligations. This objective will be supported by a new obligation (applicable as of July 2020) that requires taxpayers to provide complete data on their invoices.

At the beginning of December 2019, the Hungarian Parliament accepted an amendment to the Hungarian Duty Act, which is supposed to enter into force on 1 February 2020.

The provisions of the Hungarian Labour Code on the employees’ leave entitlement will be modified as of 1 January 2020. The new provisions are aimed at extending the employees’ entitlement to take leave for the purpose of providing care for their child.

According to the press release issued on 6 December 2019, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) imposed a fine of HUF 1.2 billion (EUR 3.6 million) on Facebook for misleading users by claiming its services were free.

A new amendment package was approved in the middle of December 2019. The package includes many novelties affecting the validity and issuance of driver’s licenses, the documents of newborns, document modifications due to marriage, procedures related to death and identity checks conducted by the police.

Affiliated enterprises have to report their related undertakings in a Country-by-Country (furthermore “CbC”) report until 31 December 2019 for the financial year of 2018. The information therein is used for high level transfer pricing examination and risk assessment. If a company fails to comply with the deadline mentioned above, it may expect a default penalty up to HUF 20 million (~ EUR 60,420) from the Hungarian Tax Authority.

The autumn tax package was submitted to the Hungarian Parliament on 12 November 2019.

On 24 October 2019 certain amendments entered into force relating to the rules of simple notification in construction matters (in Hungarian: “egyszerű bejelentés”).