Tax and legal news

On 24 September 2019, the Chamber of Deputies approved the original version of the proposed amendments to the extension of exemption from real estate acquisition tax to the first paid acquisition of a unit (a flat) in a family house. Because of the amendment, those who buy a new flat in a family house, can claim exemption from real estate acquisition tax.

With respect to the amendment to the Electronic Registration of Sales Act (the ERS or the ERS Act), an amendment to the VAT Act was approved. According to the amended VAT Act, some services and goods, such as water and sewage charges, audio books, and draft beer, were moved to the lowest, ten-percent VAT rate.

The amendment to the Electronic Registration of Sales Act extends the obligation to use electronic registration to the rest of the branches that were exempt so far. The affected ones are craftsmen, lawyers, accountants, doctors or taxi drivers. It is the third and fourth phases of the ERS.

An amendment to the VAT Act was approved together with a tax package, and it changed the provision governing the method of calculating and rounding VAT. The amendment as a whole is effective from April 2019, but according to the interim provisions, the existing VAT calculating method can be used until the end of September. The first impression could be that such a change is not really substantial, but omitting the change can influence the correctness of issued tax documents. We recommend to all VAT taxpayers that they check their accounting software and their preparedness for the change so that the method is applied correctly in October.

The governmental amendment to the ERS Act (the Electronic Registration of Sales Act) has been under discussion for quite a long time, but the Senate has refused its wording. The approval depends on a repeated vote in Parliament in September.

Starting on 1 April, the VAT Act governs the application of VAT to vouchers based on the implementation of the respective European directive. Generally, a voucher means an instrument with an obligation to accept it as payment or partial payment for supplied goods or provided services.