Gift duty in Hungary 2026 – full guide

The good news: family is mostly exempt

Gift duty applies to the free acquisition of assets – it arises when someone receives assets without consideration: property, money, a car, securities. As a rule, the person receiving pays.

But here is the key point that saves a lot of headaches. The vast majority of gifts within the family are exempt. Gifts between direct-line relatives – parent and child, grandparent and grandchild – and between spouses are entirely exempt, with no value limit. If your parent signs a flat over to you or hands you a larger sum, zero duty arises.

Gifts between siblings are also exempt. So the immediate family as a whole can give to one another duty-free. This is no minor relief: it is exactly what lets many families arrange the transfer of wealth during their lifetime rather than waiting for inheritance.

If you are not relatives: 18% and 9%

If the donor and donee are not in the relationship above – say a cousin, friend or stranger gives the gift – then duty applies. Two rates are worth remembering.

The general rate is 18%, on the net value of the gift. A dwelling, however, is reduced to 9%. For movable assets (money, a car) there is an important twist: if no deed was drawn up about the gift, duty arises only above HUF 150,000 of market value. But this is a threshold, not a deduction – once you cross it, you pay 18% on the full value. If a deed exists, duty applies with no value limit.

Two quick examples of what this means in practice:

• A HUF 20 million dwelling from a friend: 9% duty, i.e. HUF 1.8 million.
• HUF 1 million in cash from the same friend: since it is above the HUF 150,000 threshold, the 18% applies to the full HUF 1 million – i.e. HUF 180,000. A common misconception is that only the part above the threshold is taxed.

You can work out the exact figure with the gift duty calculator: enter the relationship, the type of gift and its value, and it shows whether duty is payable and how much.

Property or movable? It matters

The rules sharply separate the two gift types. For property (flat, house, land), the reduced 9% applies to a dwelling; non-residential property (e.g. land, a business premises) follows the general rules.

For movable assets – money, a car, securities, works of art – the HUF 150,000 threshold is what matters, but only if no deed was drawn up about the gift. It applies specifically to gifts between non-relatives, since between relatives there is no duty anyway. An important distinction: for inheritance, the first HUF 300,000 of movable property is a genuine deduction from the duty base – the two rules are easy to confuse.

A pitfall many run into: gifting a car involves a separate duty at the registry office on transfer (based on engine size and age). This is distinct from gift duty. Between direct-line relatives the gift itself is exempt, but the transfer duty must still be paid.

How does this reach NAV?

How it is reported depends on what was gifted. For property, the gift contract is drawn up by a lawyer or notary, and following the land-registry entry NAV automatically assesses the duty – if any arises. You need not make a separate report.

For movable assets, in certain cases – typically where it exceeds the allowance and is between non-relatives – it must be reported within 30 days. A cash gift between relatives carries no reporting obligation.

NAV assesses the duty by a payment notice (decision), stating the amount and the deadline.

Why arrange it during your lifetime?

The direct-line exemption is not just about convenience – it is a serious estate-planning tool. Because parent–child gifts are exempt without any value limit, many families transfer wealth during their lifetime rather than waiting for inheritance.

This has several advantages. It avoids the delay of probate. And although direct-line inheritance is also exempt, gifting during one's lifetime lets the parent decide precisely who gets what, and the donee can dispose of the assets immediately.

There is, however, an important counterpoint worth thinking through: gifted assets leave the donor's ownership. After gifting a jointly occupied property, the parent is no longer the owner. For larger assets, families often reserve a usufruct right so the donor can use it for life – best arranged with a lawyer. Inheritance duty, by the way, is a separate topic we cover elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions