Hungarian lawmakers face a tightening legislative window as a 58-point amendment package reshapes the proposed wealth tax just weeks before a potential year-end rollout.
On November 11, Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee submitted 58 amendments to the wealth tax bill, altering various detailed rules as the scheduled introduction date approaches.
The tax draft was published for social consultation on October 6 with an October 14 deadline for comments, and the bill was submitted to Parliament just thirteen days later on October 27. After another fifteen days, the 58-point committee amendment package arrived on November 11, meaning only 36 days elapsed between the publication of the draft and the submission of the amendments.
“Altogether eight days were available for social consultation,” Magyar Csaba explained to Index, noting that several professional bodies indicated that an evaluation period of at least 15 to 20 days, or even longer, would have been justified given the complexity of the regulation.
While the fundamental frameworks—including the one billion forint value threshold, the December 31 valuation reference date, and tax rates of 1 and 1.5 percent—remain unchanged, the amendment package introduces shifts in numerous valuation, procedural, and administrative matters.
According to the government’s plans, the wealth tax act is scheduled to enter into force on December 15. Parliament is set to debate the committee reports, vote on the amendments, and vote on the completed bill during the week beginning November 23.
The planned wealth tax is expected to apply to approximately 15,000 domestic private individuals alongside around 2,000 asset management companies or foundations, according to expectations from Apelso Capital cited by Economx.
Kállay András, wealth management sales director at Apelso Capital, discussed at a background discussion that the new regulation is expected to significantly transform domestic investments. The government’s annual revenue expectation from the tax is 200 milliárd forint, and the number of affected taxpayers could reach 17 ezer.
Under the latest draft, the implementation schedule remains unchanged: the law would enter into force on December 15, the first tax obligation would be determined based on the asset situation as of December 31, and the deadline for the first declaration and payment would be August 31, 2027, as telex reported.
Tax rates would also remain unchanged, allowing one billion forint to be deducted from wealth, with a 1 percent tax applying to the first 100 milliárd forint of the resulting tax base and a 1.5 percent tax applying to the portion above that. Under the rules, individuals moving to an EU or EEA member state would receive an automatic, interest-free deferral on payment obligations until the actual sale of the assets.
