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A Hungarian company pairs a 9% corporate tax rate with membership of the European Union, while keeping the forint: Hungary is an EU member outside the euro area. Owners use it for trading and service businesses selling across the EU, for operations with staff in Hungary, and as a holding company, since dividends it receives, other than from a controlled foreign company, are deducted from its tax base. The usual vehicle is the korlátolt felelősségű társaság, the Kft., the Hungarian limited liability company. A Hungarian ready made company and a newly founded one are the same Kft. under the same law and the same tax.
| Form | What it suits | Minimum capital |
|---|---|---|
| Kft. (korlátolt felelősségű társaság) | Most foreign-owned businesses, with a sole member (egyszemélyes Kft.) or several | Share capital (törzstőke) of HUF 3,000,000; no member’s contribution below HUF 100,000 |
| Zrt. (zártkörűen működő részvénytársaság) | Companies that issue shares, for example to bring in investors | HUF 5,000,000, with no less than 30% contributed in cash at foundation |
| Fióktelep (branch) | A registered presence of a foreign company that remains the legal person | None; the foreign company stands behind it |
A Kft. founding document is either a notarial deed or a private document countersigned by a Hungarian attorney (ügyvéd), and every registration reaches the registry court (cégbíróság) electronically through a legal representative. The procedure is set out on our page on company formation in Hungary.
| Tax | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Corporate tax (társasági adó) | 9% on the positive tax base, charged on worldwide income because a Kft. is Hungarian resident |
| Income minimum | Where the profit is lower, an income minimum of 2% of adjusted total income |
| Local business tax (iparűzési adó) | Set by each municipality, at most 2% |
| VAT (ÁFA) | 27% standard rate, reduced rates of 18% and 5%; a company whose yearly turnover stays within HUF 20 million may opt for exemption |
| Dividends paid to a company | No Hungarian withholding tax, whether the receiving company is resident or foreign |
| Tax losses | Usable for five years, against no more than half of each year’s tax base |
| Tax treaties | Just over 80 comprehensive treaties; none in force with the United States |
Treaty benefits depend on the principal purpose test. Inside the EU, the Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives also apply to a resident Kft.
Members and the managing director (ügyvezető) may be of any nationality and live anywhere, and holding the office needs no work permit. The managing director must be an adult with unrestricted capacity who does the job personally; a disqualified person, or one listed under EU or UN sanctions, is refused at registration. Owners from abroad meet three formalities. Everyone entered in the register gives a tax identification number, or states that they have none. The company needs a registered seat (székhely) in Hungary, which a registered-seat service can provide; NAV, the tax and customs authority, checks that the provider is on its official register. And a member or officer without a Hungarian address needs a delivery agent.
The delivery agent (kézbesítési megbízott) receives official documents for the foreign member or officer. It must be an organisation seated in Hungary or an individual permanently resident there, and never a member, officer or supervisory board member of the same company. Where one is needed, we can arrange the delivery agent that section 31 of Act V of 2006 (the Ctv.) requires; beyond it, Hungarian law asks for no local officer.
Beneficial owners, every individual with at least 25% of the shares or votes or other control, are recorded in a central register kept by NAV. The company does not file there: it gives the data to its bank, and the bank reports it each month. That register is closed to the public, open to authorities, to banks and other obliged service providers, and to third parties with a legitimate interest. The company register at e-cegjegyzek.hu is the opposite, fully public and naming every member of a Kft.
The Civil Code gives a Kft. no company secretary. The managing director keeps the members’ list (tagjegyzék) and answers for the filings, so corporate services in Hungary usually mean help with the registered seat, the delivery agent, the attorney’s filings and the accountant’s returns.
A Kft. can be registered before it banks. The managing director may declare, with an attorney’s countersignature, that the cash capital is at the company’s disposal, and must then open a payment account within eight days of registration. Every account a company holds appears in the public register with the name of the bank. Hungarian law lets banks identify clients through an audited electronic channel, yet the banks we reviewed publish online opening only for Hungarian citizens, so a managing director living abroad should plan on a branch visit. Deposits are protected up to EUR 100,000 per depositor per bank by the National Deposit Insurance Fund, paid out in forints. The documents are listed on bank accounts for Hungarian companies.
A Hungarian ready made company, also called a shelf or off-the-shelf company, is a Kft. that has been registered, has never traded and changes hands through a transfer of its business share (üzletrész). Both routes lead to the same company, taxed at 9%.
We form new Kft. companies and supply ready made ones, prepare the founding or transfer documents and the court filings that a Hungarian attorney signs and submits, and help prepare the bank application. Where we have a working contact at a suitable bank, we can make an introduction, and the bank alone decides.
No. A Kft. is an onshore EU company. Its tax residence follows from being a Civil Code company, it pays 9% on worldwide profit, and the company register at e-cegjegyzek.hu shows its members to anyone who looks. NAV and the company’s bank know its beneficial owners. What brings people searching for an offshore company in Hungary is a low rate inside the EU for a company with real activity, not confidentiality.
The registered Kft. itself, with its company registration number (cégjegyzékszám) and EUID, its tax number, its articles and its paid capital, and the original registration date on the public record. An EU VAT number is included only if the company applied for one. There is no business attached: no customers, staff or contracts, so anyone wanting a trading Hungarian firm needs a full acquisition review instead.
Yes, for founders who are EU citizens or companies registered in the EU and can be identified remotely. An online-founded Kft. uses electronic documents with qualified signatures and cash capital only, and the court then has ten working days to decide. For everyone else the filing is still electronic, because every Hungarian registration goes to the court online through a legal representative; the difference lies in how the founding document is signed.
Yes, including as sole member. The registration request carries an extract of the foreign company’s own registration, no older than three months and with a certified Hungarian translation, and a delivery agent in Hungary is named for it. Dividends the Kft. later pays to that parent company carry no Hungarian withholding tax, and the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive applies within the EU.
Weighing a ready made Kft. against a new one, or Hungary against another country? Contact us with who will own and manage the company, and we will explain what either route would need or which ready made companies are available now. You can also reach us on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.