The legislature, however, decided to grant a one-year grace period, meaning that the new system (as well as the amount limit for summary reports) can debut on 1 July 2018.

This imposes the following specific tasks on businesses:

·        If you use invoicing software

The created XML file can be tested in KOBAK, the tax authority’s external online reporting and data provision framework. The KOBAK system is available at the https://kobak.nav.gov.hu public website; access to the website requires registration, a certificate installed in the browser for security reasons and a static IP address.

For information on how to use and sign up for the KOBAK system, go to https://onlineszamla.nav.gov.hu.

This website features up-to-date information on technical issues and the latest schema file for online invoices.

The provision will effectively terminate the current obligation for reporting the use of invoicing programs.

If the company authorized to do the invoicing is not registered in Hungary, the invoicing system of the foreign organization must also be prepared for the provision of invoicing data.

·        Reporting handwritten invoices imposes serious administrative tasks on businesses
 

These businesses can already register at the https://onlineszamla-test.nav.gov.hu/ site. It is important that this obligation applies to the issuer of the invoice, not to the accountant, contrary to what many people believed.

Once the system is active, data of invoices containing VAT between HUF 100,000 and HUF 500,000 shall be manually recorded on this site within 5 business days of the issue of the invoice. For invoices containing VAT exceeding HUF 500,000, the deadline for uploading is 1 business day.
 

•         Changes in other VAT-related documentation:

For the issuer of the invoice, the reporting obligation (fulfilled either by the invoicing application itself or the issuer of the invoice) replaces the obligation to fill in the M page of the VAT statement.

It is important that the obligation of the recipient of the invoice to fill in the M page of the VAT statement will not be terminated if the amount of VAT on the invoice exceeds HUF 100,000.

This obligation is connected to the fact of recovery. The tax authority makes its records of the submitted invoice data public.

The recipient of the invoice can use its tax identification number to retrieve data regarding the invoices based on which it came to the attention of the tax authority and can import the resulting list - by simply dragging it - to the M page.

(Accountants will continue to be responsible for filling in and submitting the M page, but businesses shall check the queried list to see if data are identical to those in their documentation.)

EVA and KATA subjects are also obligated to report their invoicing data in real time.

The test version of the tax authority’s own free invoicing application will be completed by June to help taxpayers in compliance.