tag: personal income tax

Ever since it was introduced eight years ago, the long-term investment account (TBSZ) has been a source of continuous excitement for tax advisors and their clients interested in saving on tax. This is not surprising, as the TBSZ allows business owners to take the income generated by their companies without any tax liability. And although some classic approaches to tax planning based on the TBSZ have closed over time, others are still available.

Numerous tax advantages can be gained if someone switches to being subject to the tax laws of another country (i.e. changes his tax residency). Although the country in which a private individual has residence is not a matter of choice, with careful planning of his personal circumstances it is possible to influence where he is taxed. And this affects anyone who takes on work abroad, whether for a short or a longer period.

ESOP (Employee Share Ownership Programme) entities have been springing up like mushrooms in Hungary since last year, and the acronym itself has become something of a buzzword. And this is hardly surprising, as ESOP entities can be a tax efficient vehicle for paying out work incomes. Caution is advised, however: alongside the many advantages, the regulations also conceal a number of pitfalls.

In our traditional beginning-of-year review, we again counted the number of taxes levied in Hungary today. This time we got 59. Although the number of taxes has decreased by one since last year, the scale and structure of the tax system has not changed. In terms of tax revenue generated, VAT continues to top the list, bringing in approximately HUF 3,300 billion in 2016.

According to our calculations there are presently 60 taxes in force in Hungary. Value added tax accounts for 25% of central tax revenues whereas the personal income tax accounts for 13%. However, most taxes account for less than 1% of these tax revenues. The figure of 60 different taxes seems slightly excessive also in an international context.

The purpose of the personal income tax is to make Hungarian tax residents liable to tax on all their personal income irrespective of where the income is sourced and in which form it is realized. The personal income tax laws, therefore, create a net around the individuals and any item of income can only get through the net if it has been taxed. On this net a rather big hole was cut by the introduction of the so called long-term investment account (“TBSz”) in 2010.