Over 10,000 Hungarian businesspeople have offshore companies, and this number is possibly growing, index.hu writes, based on a print-only report in daily Magyar Nemzet. Some experts say that there is now more than Ft 2 trillion (€7.4 billion) worth of Hungarian assets in tax havens. And despite offers of a tax amnesty to those who bring their money “home,” few entrepreneurs are doing so, worrying that the tax authorities will come down on them anyway.
Intriguingly, the piece says that the growth in the offshore business is being driven not just by a desire to skirt Hungary’s notoriously high and complicated taxes – another reason is that the lawyers who help clients set up offshore structures are pushing such deals because they are underemployed due to the crisis.
Still, the government must take the blame for the booming business in helping Hungarians keep their money “safe” from the state, especially because members of the country’s political class were among the first to discover that places like Panama and the Seychelles are nice not only because of the weather.
Where’s the in-place this year to setup an offshore,
now that Cyprus is being clamped down?
@Donnie Osmond: Well Liechtenstein gave up early December, which was a particular favorite with Hungarian accountants as they could drive there and back over the weekend.
There is still Switzerland, but that is under increasing pressure. It will probably hold out for a while until those in power have had a chance to launder their ill-gotten-gains elsewhere.
The Isle of Man was a favorite also until 2006 when it was “ordered to furnish HM Revenue and Customs with details of offshore accounts held by its customers, in order to assist the tax authority in clamping down on tax evasion.”
Panama perhaps?
@DonnieOsmond. Plenty of tax havens available. Do not be limited by the politicians favorites – Cyprus, Switzerland, etc.
Tax evasion by persuasion. Solicitors and bureaucrats in Hungary are forced to live off the breadcrumb sins of others.
The Gates of Eden and/or Hell are just around the corner for our goulash bretheren.
It’s surreal that APEH expects that people will be lured to recant because it’s giving an “Amnesty”.
I ran this by the fairies at the bottom of the garden, they weren’t fooled either.