Blikk peddles “Tax Dodging for Dummies”

As if Hungarians needed any more advice on how to avoid paying taxes, Blikk last week published a handy “Tax-dodging for Dummies” diagram on its website. Actually, the emphasis is more on the dummies than the tax dodging because the information provided is so obvious, it will be redundant for any child who has ever heard the word “off-shore,” which is a sad reflection even on Hungary’s army of tabloid readers.

To sum up, a businessman owns two companies, one in Hungary and one in a 0% tax haven. Profits are transferred as dividend from the first to the second, allowing the businessman/politician/fraudster to pay a big round Ft 0 in tax to APEH. While the accompanying article states that even a company making annual profits of just Ft 10 million (€36,000) can save money by going ofshore, at least National Bank Governer András Simor is doing the decent thing, repatriating his Ft 900 million fortune from Cyprus and closing down his offshore companies. Then again, we are probably giving him too much, it is most likely just another desperate move to prop up the forint.