What are the pitfalls and things to know about setting up a business in Hungary

Question

My son is setting up a service business in Budapest contect writing for various clients around the world. I wondered if anyone can give general advice about important issues or pitfalls to avoid when setting up a limited company in Hungary. He will not be employing anyone and will be working from his apartment in the city.
Is there a UKTI specialist for Hungary and is there anyone he can talk to at the Embassy in Budapest.

Many Thanks
Maurice Smith

Answer

Dear Maurice,

Thank you for your question.

We are in the process of finding the relevant person within the Commercial Team in Budapest for your son to talk to.

In the meantime, he may find this page on the UKTI website useful, especially the Doing Business in Hungary pdf. http://www.ukti.gov.uk/pt_pt/export/countries/europe/centraleurope/hungary/doingbusiness.html

We’ll be in touch once we’ve found the appropriate contact.

Kind Regards,

Jennie

Answer

Apologies. The link to the UKTI website isn’t being displayed correctly.

www.ukti.gov.uk/pt_pt/export/countries/europe/centraleurope/hungary/doingbusiness.html

Kind Regards,

Jennie

Answer

Many thanks for your question. UK Trade & Investment has a team of seven in Budapest and one of the trade advisers – Zsuzsa Nemedi ([email protected]) – would be very happy to havea chat with you or your son about his business. Zsuzsa advises that setting up a company in Hungary can take only a few days, including VAT registration. As an EU country, there should not be any surprises and the procedures themselves should be reasonably straightforward (as long as they are followed correctly). General partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, single member companies or private limited companies may be founded in a simplified procedure, by enclosing with the application for the registration of the company a ‘deed of foundation’ drawn up on the basis of a template in the annex of the Company Procedures Act. In the latter cases, the ‘deed of foundation’ is required to be prepared by a notary and countersigned – a process usually taking 8-10 days. In the case of this simplified procedure, the business association is registered by the court of registration within one working hour of the receipt of the application for registration.

The easiest way to proceed would be to contact and work with a lawyers’ office. The UKTI team in Budapest would be happy to offer sufggestions on smaller, but reliable, lawyers’ offices.

Kind regards

Paul Taylor

Export Action Plan