The deadline to report your personal income tax in Hungary is coming up: 21 May 2024, Tuesday. At the same time, you can also donate 1+1% of your taxes. This costs you nothing, and you can support a good cause. Check out how that works and where the money goes.
Your income generated in Hungary is taxed at 15%. If you work in employment, it gets deducted from your monthly salary and your employer pays it directly to the Tax Authority, this way you receive your net salary (sometimes also referred to as take home pay).
Personal income tax covers about 10% of the income of the government budget. Each year, the government decides how they will spend that money alongside the rest of the budget. As a result, you do not have direct control over what happens to your personal income tax. You can only exercise indirect control, by voting in the general elections – which is available only to Hungarian citizens. (If you have an address card, however, you can vote in the municipal elections. The next one is coming up in a month, on 9 June 2024.)
Even though most of your personal income tax will be budgeted by the government, you do have direct control over 2% of it. When you submit your yearly tax income report, you have an option to redirect 1% to an NGO and another 1% to a church. This is why the streets are full of billboards asking for “your 1%”, as organizations want to convince you to donate your 1% to them.
If you do not indicate where you want to redirect your 1%, it will be simply added to the government budget. As a result, if you wish to have more control over how your taxes are spent, this is a great opportunity to take action.
When you are filing your tax returns, you actually have 2 batch of forms you can fill in: one for your personal income tax, and one for the 1+1%. This is true whether you are taking care of this online or on paper. You will see that the 1+1% form has two sections:
If you start typing the name of each, you will be able to select the one you prefer from a dropdown menu. You can also check the options separately, on the website of the Tax Authority, where every organization that is eligible for the 1% donation is listed (NGOs and churches separately).
If you need inspiration, you can also check out the list of NGOs the Helpers Team supported during our latest Christmas charity drive.
Of course, the Tax Authority always publishes statistics of the donations made in the previous years. You can check out the data here.
In 2022, over 29,500 non-governmental organizations received donations from the 1% personal income tax of 1.8 million taxpayers, with a value of HUF 15.3 billion (over EUR 38 million). The 10 most prominent recipients were as follows:
| Name | Taxes donated (HUF) | Number of donors |
| Országos Mentőszolgálat Alapítvány (Foundation for the National Ambulance Service) | 336,810,498 | 40,556 |
| Heim Pál Gyermekkórház Fejlesztéséért Alapítvány (Foundation for the development of Heim Pál Children’s Hospital) | 299,876,570 | 33,253 |
| Partizán Rendszerkritikus Tartalomelőállításért Alapítvány (Foundation for creating content scrutinizing the regime) | 191,131,793 | 21,122 |
| Daganatos.hu Alapítvány (Foundation for supporting children who have cancer) | 175,350,024 | 25,595 |
| Bethesda Kórház Alapítvány (Foundation for the development of Bethesda Children’s Hospital) | 170,068,511 | 18,210 |
| Bátor Tábor Alapítvány (Foundation supporting the therapeutic recreation of chronically ill children and children with cancer) | 164,330,571 | 17,661 |
| Szent Márton Gyermekmentő Szolgálat Közhasznú Alapítvány (Foundation supporting an ambulance service specialized in helping children) | 163,017,806 | 20,637 |
| Kutya-segélyszolgálat Alapítvány (Foundation supporting injured or chronically ill shelter dogs) | 116,628,098 | 17,856 |
| Madárkórház Alapítvány (Foundation for the development of the Bird Hospital) | 98,012,476 | 11,454 |
| Peter Cerny Alapítvány a Beteg Koraszülöttek Gyógyításáért (Foundation for the treatment of premature babies) | 95,721,877 | 10,744 |
In 2022, over 150 churches or similar organizations received donations from the 1% personal income tax of almost 2 million taxpayers, with a value of HUF 15.5 billion (almost EUR 39 million). The 10 most prominent receivers were as follows:
| Name | Taxes donated (HUF) | Number of donors |
| Magyar Katolikus Egyház (Catholic Church in Hungary) | 6,048,508,395 | 803,070 |
| Magyarországi Református Egyház (Reformed Church in Hungary) | 2,657,460,792 | 348,482 |
| Magyarországi Evangélikus Egyház (Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary) | 743,049,745 | 92,581 |
| Magyarországi Evangéliumi Testvérközösség (Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship) | 718,331,881 | 73,381 |
| Magyarországi Krisna-tudatú Hívők Közössége (Hungarian Society for Krishna Consciousness) | 691,365,748 | 86,005 |
| Magyarországi Baptista Egyház (Baptist Church of Hungary) | 461,179,082 | 56,294 |
| A Tan Kapuja Buddhista Egyház (Dharma Gate Buddhist Church) | 290,239,337 | 33,566 |
| Gyémánt Út Buddhista Közösség (Diamond Way Buddhist Community) | 203,376,059 | 24,377 |
| Hit Gyülekezete (Faith Church) | 169,614,675 | 36,108 |
| Magyarországi Zsidó Hitközségek Szövetsége (Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities) | 131,599,591 | 12,612 |
| Magyarországi Jehova Tanúi Egyház (Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hungary) | 82,580,664 | 14,672 |
Even if you are not a Hungarian citizen, you do have some control over how your personal income tax is used. Make sure to exercise your rights in deciding how your taxes are spent, and support a good cause. You can do this by 21 May 2024, Tuesday, which is also the deadline for submitting your personal income tax report.
Helpers provides immigration and business assistance to foreigners living, working, and doing business in Hungary. Our goal is to make navigating Hungarian bureaucracy easier for everyone, and making you feel more at home here in Hungary.
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