Filing your tax returns in Hungary in 2026

Deadlines for your 2025 tax returns

2025 tax returns are filed after the end of the calendar year, so in the first half of 2026.

• February 2: receiving your income certificates (M30 documents) from your employer or any other payers
• February 16: receiving documents verifying eligibility for tax benefits from your employer
• March 15: drafts become available online
• March 16: deadline for requesting a hard copy of your tax returns
• April 30: receiving a hard copy of your tax returns, or a reminder of taxes to pay/reclaim if you have not taken any action just yet; submitting foreign tax residency certificate if you are not paying taxes in Hungary
• May 20: filing your tax returns

Not sure if you need to file tax returns in Hungary?

You will need to file tax returns in Hungary now if you were a tax resident at any point of the 2025. This could happen because you had income in Hungary, or if you spent most of your time here. If you are not sure about your tax residency, ask your accountant, or consult an international tax advisor.

If you were employed in Hungary, you will most probably need to file your tax returns here. In that case, you are supposed to receive relevant documents from your employer or accountant, the Treasury (if you received any allowances), or your banks (if you received interests on investments).

Little to do in any case

In Hungary, paying taxes and filing tax returns is heavily automatized, so you will have little to do in any case. You are supposed to be making advance payments throughout the year with the help of your employer or your accountant, taking even available tax benefits into account. This way when time comes to file your taxes, you will only need to check if everything has been registered correctly.

• If you are an employee, you have been receiving a net salary throughout the year. You were supposed to disclose circumstances that make you eligible for tax benefits with your employer so the benefits could be applied to your salary. If you failed to do so or you became eligible retroactively, you can reclaim taxes paid in excess now.
• If you operate a business in Hungary, your accountant was supposed to remind you to pay your taxes every month, or every time you take a dividend advance from your business.

Since you were supposed to apply tax benefits and pay taxes consistently throughout the year, there are only a few cases where you can expect any actual tax returns (other than from reclaiming neglected tax benefits). One typical example is getting refunded by voluntary healthcare or pension funds. 20% of what you paid throughout the year may be refunded to you, up to HUF 150,000. Of course, you are allowed to pay more than HUF 750,000 to these funds, you just cannot reclaim more.

Filing your tax returns made easy

As mentioned above, filing your tax returns is heavily automatized. If you want to do this the old-fashioned way, you can request a hard copy of the package sent to your permanent address, and you can fill in the forms on your own. The deadline for submitting such a request is March 16, but then you might receive your package of forms only by April 30. You will still be required to mail in the forms by May 20 like everyone else. For this purpose, post offices usually stay open until later on this day.

However, these days most people file their tax returns electronically. The Tax Authority will prepare a draft for everyone completely free of charge. The draft is based on the data submitted throughout the year, and you can review everything online. The draft usually becomes available starting from March 15. You can log in to the e-SZJA platform with your Ügyfélkapu or DÁP login.

The platform is quite easy to use, although it is available only in Hungarian. You will have limited options, so it is quite easy to find the sections you need to review. You are first presented with a compact view, and if the figures seem all correct based on the documents you received, you do not even need to review the details. Of course, you are allowed to check every line one by one, too. If you are a member of a voluntary healthcare or pension fund or you are reclaiming taxes, don’t forget to find the field(s) for indicating where you will want to receive a refund.

The final deadline is May 20, but the earlier you file your tax returns, the sooner you receive any refunds.

Redirect your 1+1%

Next to your personal income taxes, there is another form marked 1+1%. This is for redirecting a small portion of your personal income tax to directly support a church and an NGO with 1% of your taxes each. This procedure is specific to Hungary; while usually you can affect how your taxes are used only indirectly, through your representatives, you can also make direct, tangible impact through your personal income tax returns.

From April on, you are bound to see advertisements of churches and other organizations asking for your 1%. While that amount may not seem much, donations add up. Here you can see the list of most supported churches and NGOs last year. If you need any ideas for where to send your 1%, you may also check the list of organizations supported by the Helpers Team during our last Christmas Charity Drive.

Let the Helpers Team help you

You will hardly need our help with filling in your yearly Hungarian tax returns. However, the Helpers Team is here to help you navigate Hungarian bureaucracy whether you need assistance with business setup, accountancy, or residency or citizenship application. You can count on our 20 years of expertise and extensive local know-how.

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