The Government would like to be informed comprehensively about offshore accounts in order to recover unpaid tax, Minister of State Heading the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

He stressed that the Government had already indicated this intention earlier and as the two-year tax amnesty ended, it contacted Swiss authorities. The money to be transferred back to Hungary is likely to be less than HUF 100 billion.

He also pointed out that the amount of untaxed incomes transferred from Hungary is higher than from other countries in the region. According to private bank estimates, a total of HUF 275 billion was transferred to offshore accounts in 2012.

According to Hungarian analysts, the equivalent of an estimated HUF 700 billion is present on Swiss accounts, based on the capital gains tax paid on interest according to the OECD Model Convention.

The Government intends to obtain information about offshore accounts in an entirely transparent way, he added.

János Lázár also said the Government does not expect revenues from these actions this year but it would be satisfactory if Hungary and Switzerland came to an agreement by January 2015. The Government is planning to start similar negotiations with other tax havens such as Liechtenstein and Cyprus.

He mentioned that the Government and ministries will consider measures aimed at stopping the outflow of capital from Hungary.

Government Spokesperson András Giró-Szász was also present at the briefing and said there are countries where it is compulsory for firms and their subsidiaries to inform the authorities about their foreign accounts.

(Prime Minister’s Office)