2025 Spring tax package in Hungary: Everything in one place | News Flash

The Spring Tax Package was published in the Hungarian Gazette on June 19, 2025. It includes amendments to tax laws for 2025 and 2026. Below we have summarized the most important changes in tax legislation.

Extra-profit taxes

The special tax on credit institutions and financial enterprises will remain in effect until the end of 2025 and will further increase in 2026. The tax base continues to be the pre-tax profit from 2023 (or 2024 for the 2026 tax year), adjusted according to the statutory items.

To encourage the purchase of government bonds, up to 50% of the tax can be saved if institutions increase their holdings of long-term, forint-denominated government bonds. This benefit remains available in 2026 as well.

The extra-profit tax on oil product manufacturers is also extended for the 2026 business year.

Personal Income Tax (PIT)

The most significant PIT changes focus on supporting mothers with children:

• From October 1, 2025, mothers with three or more children will be exempt from PIT on their salaries.
• From January 1, 2026, full tax exemption will also apply to:
  • Mothers under 40 with two children
  • Mothers under 30, without an income cap
• Older mothers with two children will also become exempt in phases after January 1, 2026.

Other PIT-related changes:

• From July 1, 2025, maternity benefits (CSED), childcare allowance (GYED), and adoption support become tax-exempt.
• Employers can now provide electric bicycles up to 750W tax-free (previously only up to 300W).

A key change affects trust arrangements: the law now considers the transfer of unpaid, approved dividends into a trust as a taxable transaction, reversing previous treatment.

Corporate tax & Global minimum tax (GloBE)

• Inbound cross-border mergers: Companies becoming resident via cross-border transformation may declare previously held shares and benefit from participation exemption rules.
• R&D tax base deduction: Increased from HUF 50 million to HUF 150 million, promoting innovation.
• Civil law demerger: Now classified as a preferential asset transfer under corporate tax, with no transfer pricing adjustment required for the transferring entity.

For sports academies involved in talent development in popular team sports, several administrative functions (e.g. approval of development programs, issuing tax credit certificates) will now fall under the Minister responsible for sports, not the national federations.

Global Minimum Tax (GloBE):

• The deadline for filing top-up taxpayer status is extended to the end of the second month following the fiscal year.
• Accounting treatment clarified: the top-up tax must be reported as accrued expense in the year it relates to, and derecognized upon final tax payment.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Mostly technical but practical changes:

• From January 1, 2025, reverse charge applies to natural gas transactions between dealers.
• From July 1, 2025, buyers must provide written, prior confirmation that they qualify as taxable gas traders.

The HUF 18 million exemption threshold for small taxpayers, previously regulated by decree, is now included in the VAT Act with transitional provisions.

The mandatory receipt data reporting deadline is postponed from July 1, 2025, to September 1, 2026. From that date, receipts issued without online/e-cash registers must be reported to the tax authority within 3 days.

Voluntary use of e-cash registers will be possible from July 1, 2025.

From January 1, 2026, data reporting obligations for VAT taxpayers will expand:

• In case of reporting transactions by a legal successor, the tax number of the predecessor must be included.
• For group taxpayers, the member participating in the transaction must be identified in the data.

Excise tax

Minor amendments focus mainly on registration procedures and regulations related to tobacco products.

Sector-specific taxes (insurance, retail, district heating)

Several sectoral taxes are amended:

• Insurance surtax: Elevated to statutory level and remains in place for 2026.
• Retail surtax: 2025 rates elevated to law and also applicable in 2026. Special rules for fuel retailers introduced.
• District heating: Corporate income tax rate for energy providers reverts to 31% from January 1, 2026.

Social contribution tax

New rules target tax planning:

• If a payer pays wages or fees to a retired woman who qualifies for PIT exemptions for mothers, 13% social contribution tax will apply to the portion exceeding four times the national average wage (HUF 13,958,400 in 2025).
• Connected companies must calculate the threshold jointly.

This closes a tax planning loophole where businesses could distribute profits tax-free by employing retired mothers with multiple children.

Local taxes in Hungary

Updates include:

• Bus vehicle tax exemption available from 2026 for companies engaged in rail or road passenger transport.
• For gambling operators, net revenue can now be reduced by recognized prize expenses, resulting in a lower local business tax base.

Duties

Transfers of land intended for solar or wind power plant development will be exempt from transfer duties, encouraging investments in renewable energy by industrial players.

Financial transaction tax

Extended to cover electronic money accounts managed by e-money institutions. As a result, fintech companies will face both new tax obligations and increased administrative burdens.

Accounting

Clarification regarding sustainability reports:

• The ESEF format only applies to the sustainability report, not to the auditor’s opinion.
• Auditors are not required to examine the consistency between the report and the financial statements but must disclose any material misstatements (excluding the sustainability report).

Tax administration procedure

Key changes include:

• The fees for conditional tax assessment increase by HUF 2 million.
• Pre-consultation is reintroduced for conditional tax assessment, with a fee of HUF 1 million.
• The APA (Advance Pricing Agreement) fee and pre-consultation fees increase by HUF 2 million and HUF 500,000 respectively.

Audit deadlines for complex cases involving multiple taxpayers:

• For reliable taxpayers: increased from 180 to 365 days
• For others: can extend up to 540 days

e-Cash Register penalties:

• Non-compliance may incur fines up to HUF 1 million, plus potential 12-day business closure.
• e-Cash register vendors may be fined up to HUF 10 million for certain violations.

Ildikó Hajnal-Balázs

Tax Manager | Accace Hungary

Book a meeting with Ildikó