An agreement has been reached on the global minimum tax in the European Union – what does this mean for domestic companies, how can the tax system change?

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 12. 13. 11:16

The member states of the European Union managed to reach an unanimous agreement at the ambassadorial meeting on December 12, 2022 on the global minimum tax, as a result of which a new time calculation begins for multinational companies operating in the EU. For Hungary, the agreement is interesting from several points of view, as it affects both foreign multinational companies operating in the country and the largest Hungarian-based companies.

In addition, it forces the Hungarian legislature to act by requiring local tax rules to be adapted to the changed circumstances. The tax experts of PwC Hungary summarized how the agreement affects Hungarian companies and the tax system.

Last year, a total of 137 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreed to introduce a uniform global minimum tax and apply it from 2023. The Commission of the European Union was one of the first to react to this agreement and presented its own draft directive to the EU Council.

However, the unanimous decision necessary for the adoption of the directive has not yet been reached, because first Poland and then Hungary withdrew their support.

As a result of the current agreement, all member states of the European Union undertook to transpose the rules on the global minimum tax included in the directive by the end of 2023, one year later than the original plans, the main elements of which must be applied from 2024.