Hungarian government submits bill cutting tax bureaucracy

Budapest (MTI) – Economy Minister Mihály Varga submitted a bill to parliament on Friday containing a number of changes to tax laws and other legislation aimed to reduce tax bureaucracy.

The bill aims to “reduce administration, simplify taxation and introduce tax policy measures that promote certain priority goals”, according to its justification.

“The most important elements of the bill, in addition to reducing the public burden and boosting competitiveness, are scaling back tax bureaucracy,” the economy ministry said in a statement.

The bill would raise the revenue threshold for the itemised tax for small businesses, known by its Hungarian acronym “kata”, from 6 million forints (EUR 19,400) to 12 million from next year.

It would raise the threshold on total assets for companies already taxed under the small business tax, known by its Hungarian acronym “kiva”, to 1 billion forints (EUR 3.2m). The threshold for companies that first opt for kiva will remain at 500 million.

The bill would reduce the number of rates for the healthcare contribution, known by its Hungarian acronym “eho”, to two (14 percent and 27 percent) from five (6, 14, 15, 20, and 27 percent).

It would introduce a tax preference for investors in start-ups up to 20 million forints annually over four years. The change could bring start-ups 40 billion-60 billion forints in investments, the ministry said.

Source: MTI