Hungary raises the VAT small-business exemption threshold to HUF 18 million for 2025

What changed in detail

Government Decree 5/2025. (I. 25.) Korm. rendelet, issued on 25 January 2025 and in force from 26 January 2025, raised the turnover threshold for Hungary’s small-business VAT exemption (alanyi adómentesség) from HUF 12 million to HUF 18 million. The higher threshold applied retroactively from 1 January 2025.

NAV’s guidance set out who could benefit. A business that had exceeded HUF 12 million in 2023 or 2024, or had expected to exceed it in 2025, could still opt into the exemption for 2025 by filing a declaration with NAV by 28 February 2025, provided that neither its actual 2024 turnover nor its expected 2025 turnover exceeded HUF 18 million. For these businesses the rule restricting a return to the exemption after crossing the threshold did not apply.

A business already exempt for 2025 had nothing to do except monitor the HUF 18 million limit instead of HUF 12 million. Businesses starting activity during 2025, including between 1 and 25 January, applied the threshold pro rata. Receipts issued in 2025 before a retroactive election did not need to be corrected, and no VAT was due on the supplies they covered, except for transactions that cannot be made in exempt capacity.

What it means

This change is superseded. Decree 5/2025 was repealed by Act LIV of 2025 from 20 June 2025, so the HUF 18 million figure no longer rests on the decree. It was the threshold for 2025 only: Act LXXXIV of 2025 set HUF 20 million from 1 January 2026, then HUF 22 million for 2027 and HUF 24 million for 2028 — see Hungary raises the threshold to HUF 20 million. The February 2025 election window is long closed. A business testing eligibility today should use the figure for the year in question, not HUF 18 million.