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Executive summary

In Hungary the e-invoicing was introduced and the legal conditions were created in 2004 by the transposition of Directive 2001/115/EC. But the use of this new instrument grew very slowly in the next 3 years. The main obstacles to the spread of e-invoicing were related to practical misinterpretations, the lack of good practices and the lack of controlling methods from the Tax Authority. Recognizing this, a comprehensive revision of the acts and decrees on e-invoicing and e-archiving was made in 2007. Since then the spread of e-invoicing accelerated, but it is still under the EU average. The regulation provides for two ways to produce e-invoices: - using an advanced electronic signature and a timestamp (according to the Act on Electronic Signatures) - using an electronic data interchange (EDI) system At the moment the aim of the competent authorities is to promote the use of e-invoices, to cooperate with the companies and organizations concerned, and to deal with the problems emerging in the practice.

Legal aspects

The main legal instruments on e-invoicing (and the archival of e-invoices) in Hungary are the following (currently all of them available only in Hungarian):
Act 100 of 2000 on Accountancy
Act 127 of 2007 on Value Added Tax
Act 35 of 2001 on Electronic Signatures
Decree of the Minister of Finance no. 46/2007. (XII. 29.) on certain aspects of Electronic Invoicing
Decree of the Minister of Finance no. 24/1995. (XI. 22.) on the requirements of Invoices
Decree of the Minister of Economy no. 114/2007. (XII. 29.) on the rules of electronic archiving

Important links:

A presentation on the legal background of e-invoicing and e-archiving in Hungary (available only in Hungarian)