Earlier today the government has submitted to the National Assembly the bills about the implementation of the telecom tax, the financial transaction duty and the uniform insurance tax.

In case the proposal is approved, the new telecom tax – in order to secure the stability of the 2012 Budget – will be implemented as early as the middle of this year. The levy planned to be paid is 2 HUF on each minute from its beginning and every SMS/MMS.

According to the submitted bill, the tax shall be paid by the telecom services provider. The proposition provides 10 minutes of tax-free usage monthly per every phone number and limits the payable amount to 700HUF for private customers and 2500HUF for corporate customers.

The financial transaction duty is set to be implemented from 2013. The general duty rate is planned to be 0.1 percent. The duty would be levied on certain postal or bank transactions of private and corporate customers (i.e.: drawing and paying in cash, bank transfers, direct debit mandate payments, bank card purchases and postal cash transactions). In case the proposal is approved, the financial services provider is obliged to pay the duty.

The government intends to introduce a new and compact tax in order to replace the three taxes which insurance companies currently pay by implementing the uniform insurance tax.

The new taxes fit well into the policy of the government which aims to reduce liabilities on incomes and increase them on sales and consumption. Furthermore, revenues from the taxes will make the Budget calculable for the next couple of years and beyond.

(Ministry for National Economy)