Hungarian economy minister praises new personal income tax filing arrangement

Budapest, March 16 (MTI) – Economy Minister Mihály Varga has called recently implemented changes to rules for filing personal income tax returns historically significant for taxation.

Under legislation approved last year, Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) prepares the personal income tax returns starting this year of all Hungarians whose employers submit tax data for them.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Varga said NAV has prepared the tax returns of 3.8 million taxpayers.

As of right now, 2.5 million people are registered for online state administration services and are able to view their returns on NAV’s electronic interface. After viewing their returns, taxpayers have the option of approving or requesting changes to the version prepared by NAV, Varga added.

Taxpayers also have the option of preparing their own returns on the old interface, the minister said. NAV will also prepare the tax returns of those who are not registered for online state administration services or simply do not want to spend time filing their returns, Varga said. The authority will then contact them about whether they have any unpaid taxes or are due any tax refunds.

A total of 28,000 taxpayers have accessed NAV’s electronic interface by 9am Thursday, András Tallai, state secretary in charge of taxation, told the same news conference. The gross cost of the development of NAV’s electronic interface was 4.3 billion forints (EUR 13.8m), he said, adding that these costs would be recovered within 1.5-2 years solely through savings in paper costs.

Source: MTI