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Company formation in Hungary almost always means registering a korlátolt felelősségű társaság, the Kft. It is the Hungarian limited liability company, the closest local equivalent of an LLC or a private limited company: each member owes the company its agreed contribution and does not answer for the company’s debts (Civil Code, Act V of 2013, section 3:159). A single person can form one. A single-member Kft. (egyszemélyes Kft.) is founded by a deed of foundation, the alapító okirat; with two or more members the founding document is the társasági szerződés (section 3:94).
The share capital (törzstőke) must be at least HUF 3,000,000, and each member’s contribution (törzsbetét) at least HUF 100,000 (section 3:161). The cash need not be paid in full before registration if the articles allow later payment. The member then receives no dividend until the contribution is paid, any part still unpaid at the end of the second full business year after registration falls due within three months of the approval of the accounts for that year, and until then the members answer for the company’s debts up to the unpaid amount (section 3:162).
| Form | Statutory minimum capital | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Kft. (korlátolt felelősségű társaság) | HUF 3,000,000, at least HUF 100,000 per member | Owner-managed trading, service and holding companies |
| Zrt. (zártkörűen működő részvénytársaság) | HUF 5,000,000, of which cash contributions at formation must be at least 30% (section 3:212) | Companies that need shares, for example for investors |
| Fióktelep (branch of a foreign company) | No capital of its own | A registered Hungarian presence of a foreign company without a separate legal person |
Hungarian companies are registered by the cégbíróság, the registry court competent for the company’s seat, in an electronic court procedure (Act V of 2006, the Ctv., sections 32 and 35). The founding document must be a notarial deed or a private document countersigned by an attorney (ügyvéd) (Civil Code section 3:95). And legal representation is mandatory: the company’s representative files through a legal representative, electronically and with qualified electronic signatures (Ctv. sections 32(4), 33(2) and 36). A founder cannot file alone.
The request must reach the court within thirty days of the notarial deed or the countersignature (Civil Code section 3:100). Founders who cannot attend sign through a representative, whose power of attorney must be a public deed or a private document of full probative force (section 3:95(1)).
| Item in the court file | What the law requires |
|---|---|
| Founding document | Name, seat, activities by TEÁOR code, contributions and the first managing director (Civil Code section 3:5; Ctv. section 24(1)(e)) |
| Managing director (ügyvezető) | Acceptance and a declaration of not being disqualified; an adult with unrestricted capacity who acts personally (Ctv. Annex 1; Civil Code section 3:22) |
| Registered seat (székhely) | Proof of the right to use the address (Ctv. Annex 1, point I.13) |
| Tax data | The VAT declaration needed for the tax number, and the tax identification number of every person entered (Annex 1, point I.12; section 36(4a)) |
| Capital evidence | A payment service provider’s certificate, or the managing director’s declaration countersigned by an attorney or in a notarial deed (Annex 1, point II.1) |
| Corporate member from abroad | A register extract not older than three months, with a certified Hungarian translation (Annex 1, point I.5) |
The name must show the company form, in Hungarian where it describes the activity (Civil Code section 3:6). The Civil Code gives a Kft. no company secretary: the managing director keeps the members’ list (tagjegyzék) and files every change with the court (section 3:197), so there is no separate secretarial office to fill.
These are the court’s deadlines under the Ctv., counted from receipt of the electronic request.
| Route | Conditions | Court’s deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Simplified procedure (egyszerűsített cégeljárás) | Founding document made on the statutory template (szerződésminta) | One working day from the tax authority’s notification about the tax number (sections 9/A and 48(4)) |
| Online-founded Kft. | EU citizens or EU-registered companies as founders, identified remotely, all documents electronic with qualified signatures, cash capital only | Ten working days (sections 9/G and 49(4)) |
| Standard procedure | Individually drafted founding document | Fifteen working days (section 46(7)) |
The court may issue a single deficiency notice, with at most thirty days to remedy, and that time does not count (section 46). If it misses its deadline, the head of the court must decide within three working days, failing which the company is registered by operation of law (section 47); the simplified procedure has the same safeguard (section 48(8)). A request is refused outright where a proposed officer is disqualified or a person named is reported as listed under EU or UN sanctions (section 46(1) and (1a)).
The company exists from registration (Civil Code section 3:4(4)), but it need not wait idle: from the countersignature it acts as a pre-company (előtársaság) and may do business once the request has been filed, provided its documents show that status (section 3:101).
Hungarian company law sets no residency or nationality condition for members or the managing director, and no work permit is needed simply to hold the office. Three rules do apply to founders from abroad.
The registered seat is where the company receives legal declarations (Civil Code section 3:7). A company without premises can use a registered-seat service (székhelyszolgáltatás), and NAV then checks that the provider is on the official register of such providers (Act CL of 2017, section 18/A).
A Kft. can be registered before it has a bank account. The court accepts either a payment service provider’s certificate that the cash was paid, or the managing director’s countersigned declaration that it is at the company’s disposal. On the declaration route the managing director must open the company’s payment account within eight days of registration and pay in the cash not yet spent (Ctv. section 30(5)). Every account then appears in the register, because the bank reports it to the court within eight days (section 24(6)).
The account itself is the bank’s decision, and the online business account routes published by the Hungarian banks we reviewed are limited to Hungarian citizens, so a company run from abroad should expect its managing director to visit a branch. For opening a Hungarian business bank account from overseas, our page on bank accounts for Hungarian companies sets out the documents and the banks’ published conditions.
The tax number (adószám) comes out of the registration itself: the request carries the declaration NAV needs, and in the simplified procedure the court decides only after NAV has reported the number (Ctv. section 48(4)).
| Obligation | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 9% of the positive tax base; a Kft. is resident and taxed on income from Hungary and abroad | Act LXXXI of 1996 sections 2 and 19 |
| Losses and dividends | Losses carried forward five years, up to 50% of the base; dividends received deducted; no withholding tax on dividends paid to another company | NAV guideline on business associations |
| Local business tax (iparűzési adó) | At most 2%, set by the municipality; registration within fifteen days | NAV guideline; Act CL of 2017 section 18 |
| VAT (ÁFA) | 27% standard, 18% and 5% reduced; exemption open to a company with turnover within HUF 20 million a year | Act CXXVII of 2007 sections 82 and 188 |
| EU VAT number (közösségi adószám) | Issued by NAV on application, which may accompany the tax number application | Act CL of 2017 section 29 |
| Annual report and tax return | Accounts deposited by the last day of the fifth month after the year end; tax return by 31 May for a calendar year | Act C of 2000 section 153; NAV guideline |
| Audit | Not compulsory while two-year average turnover is at most HUF 600 million and average staff at most 50 | Act C of 2000 section 155(3) |
| Beneficial owners | Given to the company’s bank, which reports them monthly to the register kept by NAV | Act XLIII of 2021 section 7 |
Hungary has just over 80 comprehensive double tax treaties, though none with the United States is in force. The beneficial ownership register is not public: access is reserved to authorities, to banks and other obliged service providers, and to third parties with a legitimate interest.
Hungary has no offshore company vehicle. A Kft. is an ordinary EU company: resident because it is formed under the Civil Code, taxed at 9% on its profit from all sources, and entered in a public register. Register data and filed company documents are open to anyone (Ctv. section 10(2)), and for a Kft. they name every member (section 27(3)). What Hungary offers is a low corporate rate inside the EU, not confidentiality.
With template articles the court decides on a new Kft. within one working day of the tax number, so speed alone is rarely a reason to buy. A ready-made Kft. makes sense when the business needs an earlier registration date or an existing tax number and, where it applied for one, an EU VAT number. Our page on ready-made shelf companies in Hungary explains how a business share (üzletrész) is transferred, and the guide to off-the-shelf companies compares the two routes more generally.
We can form a new Kft. or supply a ready-made one, prepare the founding or transfer documents and the court filing that a Hungarian attorney then signs and submits, and help put together the bank application. Where we have a working contact at a suitable bank we can introduce you, while the bank alone decides. Where a member or the managing director has no Hungarian address, we can arrange the delivery agent that section 31 of the Ctv. requires. The Hungary overview covers the country, and our page about companies in Hungary (in Russian) summarises the same ground.
Choose the form, in practice a Kft., and have the founding document countersigned by a Hungarian attorney or put in a notarial deed. Evidence the capital, secure a registered seat, and name a delivery agent if a foreign member or director has no Hungarian address. The attorney files the request electronically with the registry court within thirty days, and the court decides within its statutory deadline.
The court’s deadlines are statutory: one working day from the tax number notification in the simplified procedure on the template, ten working days for an online-founded Kft. of EU founders, and fifteen working days otherwise. Time spent answering a deficiency notice does not count, and a missed deadline ends in registration by operation of law. Preparing and signing the documents comes first.
Yes. Members and the managing director can be of any nationality and live anywhere. A foreign member or director without a Hungarian address needs a delivery agent in Hungary, every person entered in the register gives a tax identification number, and the company needs a registered seat in Hungary. Documents can be signed abroad through a power of attorney in a public deed or another document of full probative force.
Yes. Register data and filed company documents are fully public and searchable through the official company information service at e-cegjegyzek.hu. Each company receives a company registration number (cégjegyzékszám), and a Kft. also receives a European unique identifier (EUID) used between EU business registers. The beneficial ownership register is a separate record kept by NAV, and it is not public.
No. The capital can be evidenced by the managing director’s declaration countersigned by an attorney, and the articles may even allow the cash to be paid after registration. On the declaration route, however, the managing director must open the company’s payment account within eight days of registration and pay in the cash not yet spent. Opening that account remains the bank’s decision.
It is a Kft. with a single member, an individual or a company. Its founding document is the alapító okirat, and the sole member exercises the powers of the members’ meeting by written decisions that take effect once communicated to the management. The capital rules are the same. Unlike members of a Kft. with several members, the sole member may give the managing director binding instructions (Civil Code sections 3:109 and 3:112).
Planning a Kft. in Hungary? Tell us who the members and the managing director will be and we will set out what the registration would need, or ask which ready-made companies are available now. We also answer on Telegram and WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.