Company formation in Hungary

The client gate (or “Ügyfélkapu” in Hungarian) is an access point to e-Government, or the electronic administration in Hungary. It lets you take care of paperwork online or make appointments at public records offices. You can register your Hungarian company at the company gate through the client gate, which makes it essential for company opening. Read more here.

The company gate (or “Cégkapu” in Hungarian) is a web portal with an electronic storage place where official mail is always accessible. It is similar to the registered address of your company, and registration is also compulsory. Currently only the tax authority sends messages there, but the range of authorities will be expanded in the future. If you have your accountancy at Helpers, we can take care of the registration for you, as your accountant may be authorized to view your official mail – especially letters from the tax authority. You can read more here.

If you order the accountancy service together with the registered seat and mail forwarding from Helpers Hungary, you can make sure that all the official enquiries will reach you and your accountant on time, and your company will never miss a deadline when it comes to administration.

The company will automatically receive an EU VAT number as well as a local tax number upon registration – no need for further paperwork! Every Hungarian company is automatically eligible, so there is no application process. You can start trading with your new VAT number as soon as the company is registered.

You can set up a subsidiary to any Hungarian or foreign company, in this case we will need:

• a company registration document that contains the parent company’s name, seat address, registration number, and the director(s) name(s) – this document needs to be apostilled or authenticated by a Hungarian Consulate and translated into Hungarian (the latter we can arrange).
• the details of the director of the parent company (date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, address)
• a POA from the director of the parent company (in case he/she is not going to be present in Budapest) – once we have all the details, we can draft this and send it to you – this document also needs to be Apostilled or authenticated by a Hungarian Consulate
• a POA from the director (and any shareholder) of the Hungarian subsidiary – this document also needs to be Apostilled or authenticated by a Hungarian Consulate

You can set up a company via POA – we will require authentication (simple notary, apostille, or authentication by a Hungarian consulate, depending on where you are signing), and we can arrange the company registration without your presence. However, the director of the company has to travel to Budapest at least for one day to open the bank account for the company. Alternatively, you can schedule a 3-4 business day long trip and complete the procedure during your stay.

One of the advantages of incorporating a company in Hungary is that there is no obligation to deposit the share capital in the bank, and 100% of this capital can be spent immediately after incorporation on company-related expenses. The amount of the share capital is HUF 3 000 000 (cca EUR 8,300). All related services (e.g. accounting services, registered office) can be deducted from the share capital, so in case of a tax audit (which is common for foreign owned companies in the first few months) the authorities will not question the whereabouts of the funds. Alternatively, if the share capital is not spent by the time of the audit (on start-up expenses or other deductibles such as wages or office/material costs), you may have to present this amount in cash/on the bank account.

Yes. Helpers offers full-service assistance with setting up a business in Hungary. Hungarian company formation is one of the fastest in the European Union – from the signing of the registration documents, it takes no more than 24-48 hours. VAT registration is also immediate, so you can start working immediately, and take advantage of Hungary’s favorable 9% corporate tax.