Lease services often lead to uncertainty from a VAT perspective. Some services which seem like lease at first glance do not meet the criteria for “lease” for VAT purposes. The improper classification can lead to surprises: on the one hand the lessor’s deduction right can be challenged, on the other hand a seemingly VAT-exempt transaction could trigger VAT liability. A recent ECJ decision will set standards for these situations.

Software developer companies fall under a very favourable corporate income taxation in Hungary. Moreover, their income is local business tax exempt. Surprisingly, however, most of such companies are not aware of their beneficial status, losing billions of forints as a consequence.

The recently adopted tax law changes significantly expand the definition of related parties. As of 2015 not only those companies will qualify as related parties which are connected in their ownership chain, but also those with an overlap in their management. As a result, the number of transactions where parties have to apply arm’s length pricing will increase. The new definition may, however, cause uncertainties as well.

International tax structures fail more and more often due to the lack of real economic presence. These days both foreign and Hungarian tax authorities analyse in detail whether a legal entity has real economic nexus to the country where it was established. While tax investigations in the past primarily focused on corporate income tax reassessments, a recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) pointed out that the lack of real economic presence may also entail significant VAT consequences.

Before purchasing a real property it is obvious that the purchaser examines whether the seller is the registered owner of the property and whether the title deed lists any encumbrances relating to the property. If, however, the investigation stops at this point and does not cover the transaction on the basis of which the seller acquired the property, the purchaser may face some unpleasant surprises.

The corporate law is based on the “majority principle”: the majority shareholder can control the decisions at the shareholders’ meeting. While the old Companies Act already contained certain exceptions to this principle the new Civil Code broadens the scope of the exceptions. The new Civil Code declares that if a shareholder is “personally interested” in a decision, it is not allowed to vote on the given question. Although the courts’ interpretation of this new provision is not yet known, a conservative interpretation could lead to a substantial weakening of the “majority principle”.

“Whistleblowing”, i.e. the reporting of misconduct occurring in an organisation, has a considerable history in the United States and the United Kingdom. The legislation of these countries has already elaborated the process, how employees can report anomalies discovered at their workplace to their employer.

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.