Contributed by KCG Partners.

Circular products, extended producer responsibility, mandatory return system: new terms and new concept behind the new green tax regulation coming in 2023 in Hungary. The modification of the Green Tax Act has been already adopted, and the governmental decree with the specifications is to follow.

On 1 January 2023, a new act on the transfer of agricultural farms entered into force. The management of generational issues and the smoothing of generational change in agriculture is essential for the future of the Hungarian agriculture. In addition, the security of Hungary’s food production could be jeopardised if farm succession is not carried out properly or at all, therefore, the new act aims to help the agricultural sector to renew itself generationally.

Following the elections in April 2022, an independent ministry was created in Hungary to manage, control and regulate construction and investment activities. Shortly after meetings with the representatives of professional organizations were held to provide the basis for further legislative work on the preparation of a new framework law on the institutional, substantive and procedural rules governing public investment.

According to the Hungarian Civil Code, the debtor is liable to pay interest on any owed money that has fallen due from the first day of the delay in payment, even if the use of the money was free of charge until the delay.

On 2 December 2022, a new act entered into force on the modification of certain acts related to the operation of territorial administration, the land registry and regional development. Under the new act, the new Land Registry Act will enter into force one year later, on 1 February 2024, instead of 1 February 2023 as planned originally. The new modifying act also contains other amendments.

The 2022 Fall Tax Package has been officially accepted by the Hungarian Parliament with the changes for 2023. The tax package does not bring fundamental changes, but includes finetuning with many different taxes, e.g. SMEs, real estate transactions and local business taxation.

A proposal for the modification of the Labour Code was filed to the Hungarian Parliament on 2 November 2022. The bill aims to ensure compliance with the EU Directives No. 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers and No. 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions.

The Tax Foundation issued its annual International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI) of 38 OECD countries. The Index seeks to measure the extent to which a country’s tax system adheres to two important aspects of tax policy: competitiveness and neutrality. The ranking weighs variables across five categories: corporate taxes, individual taxes, consumption taxes, property taxes, and international tax rules.

The Hungarian Government has adopted new decrees concerning household power plants and microgrids. These new legislations aim to enable economic operators to cooperate in fulfilling energy needs in times of high demand as well as to regulate small household power plants. The rules in question entered into force on 26 October 2022 and presumably will remain in force at least until the end of the state of emergency.

In mid-October 2022, a new bill has been submitted to the Parliament on the amendment of certain tax provisions in relation to real estates. The bill, on the basis of changes in the building regulations, clarifies the definitions of the properties under construction and built-on new properties. Thus, a built-on new property means also a property for which an occupancy permit was already issued, but then, its use or the number of its units changed (e.g. it was converted from a flat to an office) and 2 years have not yet elapsed until its sale. These properties will be sold subject to VAT.

Did You Know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, Schoenherr has published 18 articles of legal analysis on the subject of litigation/dispute resolution on CEE Legal Matters — the most of any firm — over the nine years of its existence?

According to its latest ruling, the Spanish tax authority certainly considers so. However, the recent boom in the popularity of NFTs poses more questions than answers from the perspective of indirect taxes.

The energy crisis has led to businesses shutting down for the winter and subsequent employment-related issues, with the Hungarian government now providing energy subsidies, according to KCG Partners Founding Partner Rita Parkanyi.

According to the Hungarian Labor Code, employers shall keep records of the durations of regular working time and overtime, standby duty, periods of leave and overtime work performed. The working time records should be updated on a daily basis and should contain facilities to identify the time of commencement and end of any regular and overtime work and standby duty. Records of the durations of regular working time and overtime may be maintained in the form of verifying the work schedule made out in writing at the end of the month, updated on a daily basis. The Labor Code, however, does not address the question where the working time records should be physically stored.

The Hungarian Parliament passed a law at the beginning of October 2022 to set up a new anti-corruption authority called “Integrity Authority” as a part of a legislative package, that was aimed to reach a compromise with the EU regarding the withholding of funds.

According to a new government decree published in the Hungarian Gazette on 26 September 2022, taxpayers can pay their local business tax advance and local business tax from 1 January 2023 by transferring the amount in euro or US dollars. Taxpayers belonging to a special economic zone can pay the local business tax to the account opened for this purpose by the National Tax and Customs Authority.

Based on Directive 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU (“Work-Life Balance Directive”), as of 2 August 2022 all Member States shall apply rules to improve work-life balance for parents and carers. In particular, Member States must ensure for working fathers at least 10 working days of paternity leave around the time of birth of the child and the paternity leave should be compensated at least at the level of sick pay.