In an effort to encourage the repatriation of offshore assets, the origins of deposits made on the accounts are not scrutinised by the tax authority, nor does NAV require banks to report the names of account holders.

The interest rate on the accounts, which require a minimum deposit of 5 million forints, is benchmarked to government securities yields and may be withdrawn tax-free after five years.

Last year, just over 53 billion forints was deposited on newly opened Stability accounts, up from just under 38 billion in 2014.

Since the tax amnesty programme was launched two-and-a-half years ago, more than 135 billion forints has been deposited on the accounts, Magyar Nemzet said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.