Reporting obligations. Hungary has approved a VAT package, which will become effective on 1 January 2010, in order to comply with EU regulations introduced in 2008. In this framework additional reporting obligations will be applied to businesses making intra-EU supplies or purchases of services. The EC lists will be obligatory not only for sales and purchases of goods but also for services supplied to or purchased from entities registered for VAT purposes in other EU Member States.
If a taxpayer files monthly VAT returns, or the cumulative value of its EC sales of goods exceeds EUR 100,000 per quarter, EC lists will have to be filed monthly, by the 20th of the following month. If the taxpayer files quarterly returns and the cumulative value of its EC sales of goods does not exceed EUR 100,000 per quarter, EC lists will have to be filed quarterly by the 20th of the month following the quarter in question.
VAT refunds. The VAT package will introduce also changes to the VAT reclaiming and refunding process.  The most significant change is that the taxpayers will have to submit their refund claims to the tax authority of the country where they are established and not to the tax authority of the country where the VAT was incurred. Therefore taxable persons established in Hungary will have to file their refund applications of VAT paid in other member states of the EU with the Hungarian tax authorities.
The application for VAT refunds will have to be submitted electronically by September 30 of the calendar year following the refund period. The EU member state’s tax authority will forward the refund application to the tax authority of the member state having to make the refund. While the form which has to be submitted to the Hungarian tax authority will be available in English and in Hungarian, it has to be completed in the language of the Member State making the refund.
Also in the case of taxable persons established in third countries, where VAT refunding is possible due to the principle of reciprocity, the refund applications will have to be submitted to the Hungarian Tax Authorities.
These rules will have to be applied to VAT refunds in Hungary made to taxable persons established in other member countries or to VAT refunds made in other member states to taxable persons established in Hungary if the application is filed by 1 January 2010. If the taxable person is established in a third country, the rules will apply only to cases in which the right to claim VAT refund arises on 1 January 2010 or later.