A recent tax raid by Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) took an unexpected turn when a company under investigation paid its entire fine—amounting to over 65 million forints—in cash, delivered in two shoeboxes.
The raid took place at a warehouse in Budapest, where NAV officials discovered over 150,000 pairs of shoes. During the inspection, multiple tax violations were uncovered. The company was unable to prove ownership of the shoe stock, and further failed to comply with transport regulations by not reporting several high-risk shipments in Hungary’s Electronic Trade and Transport Control System (EKÁER).
As a result of these irregularities, NAV imposed a fine of 65 million forints and seized 60,000 pairs of shoes—worth an estimated 60 million forints—to secure the penalty.
However, only a few hours later, the case took an unexpected turn: a company representative appeared at NAV’s headquarters and paid the entire fine—65,453,000 forints—in cash, carried in two shoeboxes. Following the payment, NAV lifted the seizure of the goods. Further details about the case are expected to emerge in due course.
