Five different corporate forms may serve as a basis to carry out business activity in Hungary.
- unlimited partnership (Kkt) – with no legal entity
- limited partnership (Bt.) – with no legal entity
- limited liability company (Kft.) – as legal entity
- company limited by shares, which may be privately founded (Zrt.) or publicly founded (Nyrt.) – as legal entity
Registration of companies is acted by the competent Court of Registration working within the County Court. During the Court of Registration's act of registering a company, the founders of a company must consult an attorney-at-law (a member of the Hungarian bar) who must countersign and file the constitutive document with the competent Court of Registration. As a general rule, companies may freely pursue activities within the scope of activities listed in the company’s constitutive document. These must be reported either as main or as sub-activities to the Tax Authority.
Registration fee for unlimited and limited partnerships (Kkt and Bt) is HUF 14,000; for public and private limited liability companies (Nyrt and Zrt) HUF 25,000. The duty levied for the registration is between HUF 50,000-60,000, depending on the form of the business entity. Except for public Rts, all business entities may be established by using a template (the template is determined by law), which will be their constitutive document. In such cases the Court of Registration must register the establishment of the entity/changes in the corporate data within one business hour of filing the request (assuming the request and all related documents are faultless); the fee is uniformly HUF 15,000. A notice on the establishment of business entities must be published in the official companies' gazette. The publication fee for Kfts and Rts is HUF 25,000, and for other business entities it is HUF 14,000. Any amendment to the company's data must be registered in the Companies Register, which entails the payment of additional duty and publication fees. The amount payable for the registration is dependent on the data to be amended. The publication fee is HUF 7,000 for partnerships (Kkt and Bt) and 15,000 for public and private limited liability companies (Nyrt and Zrt).
Foreign Direct Investment
The Hungarian Investment and Trade Development Agency (ITD Hungary) supports high value-added investment projects with a one-stop shop service including a VIP treatment and comprehensive information about available subsidies for investment projects.
In cases where no EU co-financed subsidy is available, the Hungarian Government offers tailor-made incentive packages for projects . The incentive package may consist of the following ellements:
- cash subsidy decided individually by the Hungarian Government
- development tax allowance
- training subsidy
- job creation subsidy
Currently investors of the following project groups may apply for such packages:
1. Investment projects, worth min. Eur 10 million, aiming to establish new manufacturing facilities;
2. Investment projects, worth min. Eur 10 million, aiming to establish new research and development facilities;
3. Investment projects, worth min. Eur 10 million, aiming to establish new regional service centres;
4. Investment projects, worth min. Eur 10 million, aiming to establish new logistics facilities;
5. Investment projects, worth min. Eur 50 million, aiming to establish new tourist facilities.
Useful Links:
Corvinus Pte Ltd (hungarian)
National Office for Research and Technology