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ShelfCompanies24 has been forming Hungarian companies for international founders since 1995. Our Budapest team handles every step of company formation in Hungary on a single agreed service contract, from picking the right legal form through ügyvéd drafting, Cégbíróság entry, NAV registration and your first Hungarian bank account. The Cégbíróság decides on a new company within 1 working day where the founding document follows the statutory template, and otherwise within 15 working days. Most clients are trading inside 1 to 3 weeks, or on day one if they choose a ready-made készre hozott Kft..
Our service covers ügyvéd, Cégbíróság, UBO register, virtual székhely.
Company + székhely + banking + könyvelő iroda under one roof.
Cégbíróság decision within 1 working day with template articles, 15 working days otherwise. Hungarian-speaking case manager.
eIDAS-qualified e-signature, Hungarian consulate, or delegate to our Budapest ügyvéd via meghatalmazás.
We draft the társasági szerződés, file Cégbíróság, register adószám / EU VAT, file UBO.
The Kft. is the workhorse of Hungarian commerce, covering more than 95% of new corporate registrations. Governed by Act V of 2013 (Hungarian Civil Code).
Closed joint-stock company, used for capital-raising structures.
| Form | Min. capital | Formation time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kft. | HUF 3,000,000 | 1 to 3 weeks | Default, SMEs, holdings |
| Zrt. | HUF 5,000,000 | 3 to 5 weeks | Larger groups, capital-raising |
| Bt. | No minimum | 1 to 3 weeks | Tax-optimised partnerships |
| Branch | Parent-dependent | 3 to 6 weeks | Multinational presence |
| Készre hozott Kft. | HUF 3M (paid) | 3 to 7 days | Need immediate trading |
Company registration in Hungary is an electronic court procedure. The Cégbíróság, the Court of Registration, enters the company in the Cégjegyzék once the file is complete. Its statutory deadline is 1 working day in the simplified procedure, where the founding document follows the statutory template, and 15 working days otherwise.
Four things have to be in the file: the társasági szerződés drafted and countersigned by a Hungarian ügyvéd, the jegyzett tőke, paid in unless the articles allow the cash contribution to be paid later, the business activities expressed in TEÁOR codes, and a registered office (székhely) in Hungary with the right to use it. Tax registration follows the entry: the adószám is automatic, the EU VAT number is applied for at NAV, and the beneficial owners are reported through the company’s bank to the register kept by NAV.
Founders in the United Kingdom, Romania, the Netherlands and the Gulf make up most of the Hungarian registrations we file, and none of them has to be in Budapest. Because Hungary uses an ügyvéd countersignature rather than a notarial deed, the document chain is shorter than in neighbouring jurisdictions: you sign at a Hungarian consulate, with an eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or under a meghatalmazás that hands the execution to our Budapest ügyvéd.
Confirm legal form, member structure, business purpose (tevékenységi körök with TEÁOR codes, Hungary’s NACE classification), székhely location and banking preferences.
Hungarian law mandates that the founding document be drafted and countersigned by a Hungarian ügyvéd (registered attorney), there is no notary requirement for company formation, unlike most other EU jurisdictions. Drafted bilingual Hungarian-English with provisions on share transfers, pre-emption, exit clauses.
The founder(s) appear before the ügyvéd (in person in Budapest, or remotely via consulate, eIDAS qualified electronic signature, or notarised meghatalmazás delegating to our Budapest ügyvéd). Ügyvéd fees are set by the attorney and scale with the complexity of the deed.
The founder pays in the cash contribution: HUF 3,000,000 for a Kft. unless the articles allow it to be paid later, in which case the member receives no dividends until it is paid and must pay any unpaid part within three months of the approval of the accounts for the second full business year after registration (Civil Code, section 3:162), or HUF 1,250,000 for a Zrt. (25% of HUF 5,000,000). Where the money is paid into a deposit account, the bank issues a letéti igazolás for the Cégbíróság filing.
The ügyvéd files the registration package electronically through the Cégkapu government portal. Statutory decision time: 1 working day where the founding document follows the statutory template, otherwise 15 working days. The Cégbíróság issues a cégbejegyző végzés (registration order) and the company appears in the Cégjegyzék at e-cegjegyzek.hu.
On Cégbíróság entry the company automatically receives its adószám. The EU VAT number is issued separately upon application via NAV form ‘T 201T:
Beneficial owners (any natural person holding > 25%) are recorded in the central UBO register (tényleges tulajdonosi nyilvántartás) kept by NAV, but not through a filing of the company’s own: the company gives the data to its account-holding bank, notifies the bank of any change within five working days of learning of it, and the bank passes the data to the register (Act XLIII of 2021, section 7; Act LIII of 2017, section 12). Penalties up to HUF 5,000,000.
Convert deposit account to operating account. Hungarian banks: OTP Bank (largest), K&H Bank (KBC), Erste, Raiffeisen Hungary, MBH Bank (formed 2023 from Takarékbank+MKB merger), UniCredit, CIB Bank, Granit Bank. We match clients to the right bank for their sector.
| Scenario | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| Kft. via standard electronic formation | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Zrt. (joint-stock) | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Branch of foreign company | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Készre hozott Kft., transfer rather than formation | 3 to 7 working days |
Hungary is the one jurisdiction in the region where company formation services have a fixed legal core. The társasági szerződés has to be drafted and countersigned by a Hungarian ügyvéd, and only that attorney can file the company electronically through Cégkapu. No corporate service provider, accountant or foreign lawyer can substitute for that step, and any provider claiming otherwise is simply engaging an ügyvéd behind the scenes.
What we add around it is the rest of the project: choosing the form and the TEÁOR codes, drafting bilingually so a non-Hungarian founder can read what they are signing, running the KYC and apostille chain, arranging the jegyzett-tőke deposit and the confirmation the court needs, filing the beneficial-owner record, registering for EU VAT and the local business tax, introducing the bank and handing over to a könyvelő iroda for the monthly bookkeeping. One case manager holds all of it.
A Hungarian ügyvéd drafts and countersigns the társasági szerződés, the jegyzett tőke is deposited and confirmed by the bank, and the ügyvéd files the package electronically through the Cégkapu portal. The Cégbíróság must decide within 1 working day only where the founding document follows the statutory template, and within 15 working days otherwise; preparation, banking and tax registration come on top. The adószám is issued with the entry.
At minimum, the ügyvéd work that Hungarian law reserves to an attorney: drafting and countersigning the founding document and filing it with the Cégbíróság. Around it sits the rest of the project, entity and TEÁOR selection, bilingual drafting, KYC and apostilles, the jegyzett-tőke deposit, the beneficial-owner filing, EU VAT and iparűzési adó registration, a székhely for the first year, a bank introduction and a bookkeeping handover.
Yes, and British founders are one of our largest groups here. You sign either at a Hungarian consulate in the United Kingdom, with a qualified electronic signature, or under a meghatalmazás giving our Budapest ügyvéd authority to execute and file. UK corporate documents used in the process need an apostille and a Hungarian translation. Nothing in the procedure requires a Hungarian address for the owner, only a székhely for the company.
Standard Kft. via electronic formation: the cégbejegyzés decision is due within 1 working day only where the founding document follows the statutory template, and otherwise within 15 working days; pre-filing document preparation, banking and tax registration come on top. Zrt. takes 3 to 5 weeks. A ready-made Kft. transfer completes in 3 to 7 working days.
HUF 3,000,000, with at least HUF 100,000 per member (Civil Code, section 3:161). The cash contribution need not be paid in full before the Cégbíróság filing if the articles allow later payment: until it is paid the member receives no dividends, any unpaid part falls due within three months of the approval of the accounts for the second full business year after registration, and the member is liable for the company’s debts up to the unpaid amount (section 3:162). It is a higher entry threshold than several neighbouring jurisdictions set, which is one reason buyers of a ready-made Kft. value the fact that the share capital has already been paid in.
Hungarian corporate law follows the Anglo-American model: ügyvédi ellenjegyzés (attorney’s countersignature) on the társasági szerződés is sufficient legal authentication for company formation. There is no Hungarian notary requirement for share transfers or articles of association, a significant simplification compared to Slovakia, Czech Republic or Germany.
9% on profit (társasági adó) + 0 to 2% on net revenue (iparűzési adó based on municipality). Effective combined rate for a typical Budapest Kft.: ~11% on adjusted profit. For a smaller Kft. choosing the KIVA regime: 10% on payroll + dividends regardless of profit margin.
No. Neither the members nor the managing director of a Hungarian Kft. need to live in Hungary or hold any particular nationality, and no work permit is needed simply to hold office. One local formality does apply: a member or executive officer without a Hungarian address must name a delivery agent in Hungary, a kézbesítési megbízott, to receive official documents on their behalf. The company itself needs a registered seat in Hungary.
Kft. is the SME workhorse with HUF 3M minimum capital and a single ügyvezető. Zrt. is a closed joint-stock company with HUF 5M minimum capital, registered shares, and either dual-tier (igazgatóság + felügyelőbizottság) or monistic (vezérigazgató) governance. For 95%+ of foreign clients, Kft. is the right choice.
KIVA (kisvállalati adó, small-business tax) is an optional regime that replaces both társasági adó and most payroll-related social contributions with a 10% tax on payroll + dividends. Available to companies with annual revenue under HUF 3 billion (≈ €7.5M) and balance-sheet total under HUF 3 billion. Particularly attractive for service-sector SMEs with high payroll vs. low margin.
Yes. Hungarian tax law applies the place-of-effective-management test, so substance considerations matter. Most foreign clients run their Kft. from abroad with a Budapest virtual székhely and occasional ügyvezető visits. We discuss substance requirements during onboarding.
NAV adószám automatic; EU VAT application; beneficial-owner data given to the account-holding bank, which reports it to the NAV register; iparűzési adó registration with the municipality; bank-account activation; engagement of a könyvelő iroda for bookkeeping. Most clients are fully operational within 2 weeks of cégbejegyzés.
Ready to register your Hungarian company? Contact our Hungarian desk for a service covering ügyvéd, Cégbíróság, tax registration and banking.
Hungary is one of several jurisdictions where ShelfCompanies24 maintains pre-formed entities and active formation services. Why pick Hungary for your Kft. specifically? Lowest CIT in EU at 9% is the headline reason, but it pays to understand the trade-offs against the alternatives. Below are concrete differentiators that matter when you are weighing a structure decision against the actual operating profile of your business.
Cross-border corporate structuring in 2026 is governed by a tighter web of rules than in any previous decade. Three forces shape every decision:
For Hungary specifically: Flat 9%, lowest CIT in EU; combined with 0-2% iparuzesi (local) and KIVA alternative regime. EU but not Eurozone (HUF).
Issues we routinely see when prospects come to us after attempting the process directly with local providers in Hungary:
Yes. A name change is filed with the Cégjegyzék via a directors’ resolution and a routine filing, typically clears in 48 hours. We include up to one name change as standard for both shelf-company purchase and new formation.
Yes. A Hungarian Kft. that is tax resident in Hungary uses the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive and the Interest and Royalties Directive, and Hungary’s own network of just over 80 comprehensive double tax treaties, published by the tax authority NAV as at 1 January 2026. Two gaps matter in practice: no treaty with the United States is in force, and Russia and Belarus have unilaterally suspended key articles of theirs. Treaty benefits still depend on the principal purpose test.
Client information is held under contractual non-disclosure plus the professional-secrecy obligations applicable to corporate-service providers in our home jurisdiction. We do not share client identity or transaction details with third parties beyond what is statutorily required (KYC reporting, beneficial-owner-register filings, AML/CTF reporting where triggered). Our internal access to client files is logged and access-restricted by need-to-know.
Material tax changes (rate moves, new minimum-tax regimes, treaty amendments) get communicated to active clients with our analysis of impact. Where the change is structural, for example the OECD Pillar Two implementation in Hungary or a domestic tax-base reform, we proactively flag clients whose structures may need restructuring and set out the remedial steps. The client is not left to discover material regulatory change from their accountant or from media reports.
A Kft. is a separate legal entity Hungarian-tax-resident with its own corporate tax filings and beneficial-owner record. A branch is an extension of a foreign parent, the foreign parent is the legal entity, the Hungary branch books local-source income but the parent’s overall tax liability cascades. Most foreign owners pick a Kft. for liability ring-fencing and clean tax accounting; branches are sometimes preferred where the parent has specific group-relief or treaty considerations that depend on common legal personality.
Engaging us for your Hungarian new Kft. formation covers the following deliverables under one service:
The deliverable scope is identical regardless of whether you are based in the EU, the US, the UK, the Middle East, or APAC, we operate the same service globally for Hungarian corporate setup. Optional add-ons (virtual office, accounting retainer, payroll, sector licences, transfer-pricing documentation) are scoped separately, so the incorporation or transfer work stays exactly as agreed.