Izer Norbert: tax exemption in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector can be applied for until midnight by November

In addition to companies operating in the hospitality and leisure sector, accommodation providers and tour operators will also be exempted from paying employer tax burdens until the end of January, but this must be applied for. Norbert Izer, State Secretary for Taxation at the Ministry of Finance.

The work of almost 140,000 workers can be saved by a three-month waiver of the employer’s tax burden. The tax relief measure leaves more than HUF 16 billion for businesses, stressed Norbert Izer.

Applying for a tax exemption is simple; it is enough to tick the fields created for this purpose in the monthly tax and contribution return. The deadline for the November declaration is December 12, the secretary of state said.

He also drew attention to the fact that the tax exemption will apply not only to companies operating in the hospitality and leisure sector but also to accommodation providers and tour operators by November.

The Secretary of State recalled that the government decided this week, in consultation with industry players, that businesses in these sectors would be exempt from the employer tax burden in November and from December and January 2021. He added that these companies do not have to pay social security contributions for employees, a vocational training contribution, a proportionate amount of the rehabilitation contribution, and the excise duty on personal payments for these months.

In the fight against the coronavirus epidemic and to protecting people’s lives and health, it is also important that the government, by protecting the sectors most affected by the restrictions and protecting the work of those working there, ensure that workers get paid, Norer stressed.

Two of the three conditions for claiming the tax exemption for emergencies are in line with this, namely that the company does not terminate the employment of its employee during the three months covered by the benefit and also pays the wages of the employee already employed in November. Each protected position counts, the Secretary of State stated, adding that this is why the conditions for the tax exemption should not be examined on a company–by–company basis but on an employee–by–employee basis.

The third condition is that the tax exemption is available to businesses that earned at least 30 percent of their revenue from hospitality, sports, leisure, art, accommodation, or travel between 10 May and 10 November 2020, Norbert Izer explained.