VAT and invoicing in Hungary (2026): ÁFA, Online Számla, eVAT

Hungary runs one of Europe's most digital VAT systems. Since 2018 invoices have been reported to the tax authority in real time, and NAV now uses that data to prepare draft VAT returns for you. On top of that, Hungary has the EU's highest standard rate, 27%. This guide explains what a small business in Hungary needs to know in 2026: the rates, the small-business exemption, when to file, what an invoice must contain and how Online Számla and eVAT work. Rates and dates are as of October 2026.

Hungarian VAT at a glance

The tax is általános forgalmi adó (ÁFA), governed by Act CXXVII of 2007 on VAT (Áfa tv.) and administered by the National Tax and Customs Administration (Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal, NAV).

The reduced rates apply to goods identified by customs tariff code in the annexes of the Act, so check the exact classification of each product.

Who must register, and the small-business exemption

You register with NAV and receive a tax number (adószám) when you start a business. Your EU VAT number (Community tax number, közösségi adószám) is needed for trade with other EU countries.

Hungary has no separate registration threshold. Instead, a business established in Hungary may choose the individual VAT exemption (alanyi adómentesség):

• Limit: turnover in the previous calendar year and in the current year must not exceed HUF 20 million (§ 188 of the VAT Act).
• How to choose it: at registration, or by a declaration to NAV before 31 December for the following year.
• What it means: you charge no VAT and file no regular VAT returns, but you cannot deduct input VAT. You still issue invoices or receipts, and you still report your invoices to NAV.
• Crossing the limit: the exemption ends when you exceed HUF 20 million. Notify NAV within 15 days; you cannot choose the exemption again until the end of the second calendar year after the one in which it ended.

The exemption suits businesses selling mainly to consumers with low costs. If you plan large purchases, such as fitting out a shop, compare how much input VAT you would lose.

VAT returns and payment

Your return frequency depends on the net VAT payable in the second year before the current one:

eVAT (eÁFA): NAV prepares a draft VAT return from the invoice data it receives through Online Számla, cash registers and other sources. You review it on NAV's eVAT platform, add or correct data, declare your input VAT deduction and approve it, or approve it through a machine-to-machine connection. Filers who use eVAT do not have to submit the separate “M” sheets listing purchase invoices. According to PwC, from 1 January 2027 VAT returns may only be submitted through eVAT.

The EU sales list (recapitulative statement, form A60) still has to be filed separately, also when you use eVAT.

Invoices: what Hungarian law requires

§ 169 of the VAT Act lists the mandatory contents of an invoice:

1. 1the date of issue and a sequential number that uniquely identifies the invoice
2. 2the supplier's tax number, full name and address
3. 3the customer's full name and address, and its tax number: the first eight digits of a Hungarian business customer's tax number, the customer's EU VAT number for exempt intra-EU supplies, or its tax number when the customer pays the VAT under the reverse charge
4. 4the name and quantity of the goods or services
5. 5the date of supply, if it differs from the issue date
6. 6the taxable amount, the unit price without VAT and any discounts not included in it
7. 7the VAT rate and the VAT amount, or, for exempt supplies, a reference to the exemption
8. 8where they apply, the words “fordított adózás” (reverse charge), “pénzforgalmi elszámolás” (cash accounting) or “önszámlázás” (self-billing)

When to issue:

• immediately, at the latest by the tax point, when the customer pays at the time of the supply
• within 8 days of the supply when payment comes later and the invoice shows VAT
• by the 15th of the following month for exempt intra-EU supplies of goods and reverse-charge services supplied to customers in other EU countries

Simplified invoice: allowed in a few cases listed in § 176, for example when the total, including VAT, is no more than the HUF equivalent of EUR 100, or when you use the individual exemption. It shows the gross amount and the VAT rate instead of the VAT amount.

Corrections: you never edit an invoice that has been issued. You issue a modifying document (módosító számla, a “document in lieu of an invoice”) that refers to the original invoice, has its own sequential number and states what changes and why. An invoice issued to the wrong customer is cancelled with such a document and a new invoice is issued. Modifying documents are reported to NAV like invoices.

Foreign currency: you may invoice in another currency, but the VAT amount must be shown in forints. Convert at a Hungarian bank's published selling rate, or at the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) or ECB rate if you notified NAV of that choice in advance, as a rule using the rate valid on the date of supply.

Language: invoices may be in Hungarian or any foreign language; receipts only in Hungarian.

Receipts and cash registers: for sales to consumers where no invoice is issued you give a receipt (nyugta). In activities listed in the cash register decree, such as most retail, catering, taxis and pharmacies, receipts must come from an online cash register connected to NAV.

Record keeping: keep invoices and other records at least until the limitation period for assessing the tax expires (§ 179); other laws, such as the accounting rules, can require longer.

Online Számla: real-time invoice reporting to NAV

Hungary's Online Számla system (often called RTIR, real-time invoice reporting) has collected invoice data since 1 July 2018. The original HUF 100,000 VAT threshold was abolished on 1 July 2020, and today the obligation covers all invoices and modifying documents issued under the Hungarian VAT Act, including those of businesses under the individual exemption.

Invoicing software must be able to report invoices to NAV online, and since September 2025 several former warnings in NAV's validation have become errors that stop a report going through. From 1 January 2026 the invoice data must also include the tax number of a legal predecessor where relevant.

Online Számla is a reporting system, not a mandatory e-invoice format: you can still send your customer a PDF or paper invoice. At EU level, the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package brings e-invoicing and digital reporting for cross-border B2B sales from 1 July 2030.

In practice this means that if you invoice from software, that software must report to NAV in real time. Clientlly is not connected to Online Számla, so invoices that must be reported to NAV need to be issued with software that is.

Worked example in forints

A software consultant in Budapest, paying VAT under the general rules, invoices a client:

In the same month he buys a laptop for HUF 400,000 plus HUF 108,000 VAT (27%) and a hotel night for a client visit for HUF 50,000 plus HUF 2,500 VAT (5%), so his input VAT is HUF 110,500.

• Output VAT: HUF 270,000
• Input VAT: HUF 110,500
• VAT payable by the 20th of the next month: HUF 270,000 − HUF 110,500 = HUF 159,500

To find the VAT inside a gross price at 27%, multiply by 27 and divide by 127: HUF 1,270,000 × 27 ÷ 127 = HUF 270,000.

Common mistakes

1. 1Issuing invoices from software that does not report to NAV. Each invoice must reach Online Számla immediately.
2. 2Missing the 4-day (or 1-day) deadline for paper invoices.
3. 3Leaving out the customer's tax number on invoices to Hungarian businesses.
4. 4Editing or deleting an issued invoice instead of issuing a modifying document.
5. 5Showing VAT only in euros on a foreign-currency invoice; the VAT amount must be in forints.
6. 6Approving the eVAT draft without checking it: you remain responsible for the return, including deductions NAV cannot see.
7. 7Overlooking the HUF 20 million limit and the 15-day notification when you exceed it.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly keeps invoicing, expenses and VAT records together:

• sequential invoice numbering per series and the VAT rates of your organisation's country on every invoice
• credit notes linked to the original invoice
• invoice PDFs in your client's language, multiple currencies and a card payment link on the invoice
• you see when an invoice was opened, and automatic reminders go out 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date
• recurring invoices, and scanning receipts with the VAT read automatically
• sales and purchase VAT books per rate, including exports, reverse charge and intra-EU purchases, with VAT reports for you and your accountant and Excel and PDF exports
• importing clients, suppliers, products and opening balances from Excel or CSV, and a mobile app

Clientlly does not report invoices to NAV: Hungarian invoices must be issued with software connected to Online Számla. See the accounting module, the reporting tools and our guide to getting paid faster.