I have my girlfriend in Budapest and would like to move there. Anyone here know if online poker is taxable in Hungary? Or is it taxfree like in Sweden as long as you win your money inside of EU?

I spoke to several players in casino Tropicana in Bp and they all said different things. I contacted a tax lawyer but she didn't know and I haven't heard from her in 2 weeks. Anyone know anything?

Please don't answer unless you actually know something


Kex

Is this your girlfriend?
http://www.pestiside.hu/20090708/mis...ries-of-poker/

Here's a site with some info:
http://www.realdeal.hu/20090512/mps-...basement-poker

She's average for Budapest Thanks man!

Im also interested in this. The article provided told nothing about online poker.

Does anybody have insight if it's taxable?

Looks like things may be taking a turn for the worse in Hungary in terms of poker taxation/legislation (scroll down):

http://news.bluffmagazine.com/poker-...-03-2009-7398/

Here's another article on poker in Hungary:

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifes...BrandChannel=0

Alan

maybe i dont know this well, but i live here and what am i heard is poker belong to "winning-taxes", what is 40% of your all winning. unfortunately you cant decrease the taxes amount by your losses, so actually its unable to pay poker taxes now without going broke. im sure noone pay it. however some live casinos pays the taxes instead of you, by paying a yearly concessional prize for the goverment, but there is just a few (like tropicana). its an enormous amount of money so im sure online poker rooms didnt payed that.

the good thing, the banks only have to report transactions to the apeh (hungarian tax-office) what is reached the 2 million HUF limit mark (~5000$). neteller also untrackable by them, im sure you can use your neteller cards in Budapest. if you are way above this level you can also consider opening a bank account in Switzerland or Austria. that not meant an account at a swiss/austrian bank in Hungary...

thats what i heard, you better do to check this infos reliability from other sources.
hope it helped a little

2M HUF = more like 10k$, no?
So transaction reports after 1 or 2M HUF?

Also, I believe that you can't access Neteller from Hungary, right?

Thx.

sorry, youre right its around ~10k$.
im sure neteller is available for us from late 08/early 09. many players using it.

readed about the report limits a little, they had to report every deposits to bank accounts over 2M before 08 a march, now its increased to 3,6M. however if its suspected money-laundering they have to report every transaction. dont know what could be the criteria for this.

got these infos from lawsuit forums and apeh.hu. i recommend everyone who serious about that to get a hungarian lawyer and start browsing these pages, bc many of us dont understand clearly the fancy lawsuit language. most important thing is cashgame and tournament winning considered here as different type of income. if you get a lawyer you better do enlighten up them by the game types bc many hungarians who not involved in poker believes cashgame means "poker game played with real money".

Hi,

I figure that this is perhaps a longshot but I wanted to see if there were any Hungarian posters that play online poker that can give me a little bit of information.

I have been playing professionally for about 3 years now and unfortunately have about 16K stuck on Full Tilt. I am a young person without a family or responsibilities that tie me down, so the most logical thing for me to do right now seems to be to live abroad for about 6 months to a year, get an apartment, bank account, etc. I have considered all the options, Canada, Thailand, Costa Rica, etc., etc., but one place that I have long wanted to visit was Hungary. I am also a chessplayer with a national rating of a little above 2300, so Hungary is particularly attractive to me since I could play in chess tournaments there and try to get my FIDE master title for 6-12 months, while I also play online poker and cash out my remaining balance.

I know nothing about the state of online poker in Hungary, but did find this article that said they were considering harsh legislation against it:

http://www.onlinepoker.net/poker-new...yers-woes/5794

Do any Hungarian players have any suggestions on the feasibility of playing online poker in Hungary for the next year or so?

ill reply in a bit, live in BP, but lived in the US for about 8yrs., and now have lived in Budapest for 4years.

Might as well do it, since FTP is down while in midst of some sngs.

In short, it's a great place for poker players, Hungary that is, especially if you come to Budapest. (pop of 2.5mil) I wouldnt necessarily go to a smaller town. In BP, you can find a room for like 200$ a month, but prolly less, if u are ok w roommates. For example I got a British friend, who is renting a 2BR aprt in a sick location for like 400ish w 3 mates. (his share is like 133$). Besides, there are tons of places to go out, clubs, bars, girls whathaveyou.

Internet access is like 40$ a month, can easily get fiberoptic DSL, etc. Cost of living isnt very high at all compared to the US.

There is also a ton of grinders MTT, mostly, with a few who have won WSOP bracelets, and some highly ranked on P5s.

As far as regulation, I dont think it's gonna happen rly, we kind of have bigger problems to deal with, though just last week, they raided the biggest live poker room, (passed a bill last year about LIVE poker, which is smth like"2tables per room" or smth like that, so essentially they have been trying to tax\eliminate LIVE tourneys, since the govt cant get in on it, so most cardrooms have closed\gone further underground.) However, there hasnt been anything about online poker, if anything it's pretty popular as one the most important and best news sites www.index.hu runs stuff about online poker all the time. (mostly just news).

Well, that's kind of it for now, if u wanna ask more questions or whatever just PM me.

I live in Hungary as well and I think there won't be any regulations on online poker here for a while if not ever (or at least until our lolbad/corrupted politicians will spew away all of our money).

Thanks for the info, this is exactly the sort of stuff I was hoping for. I checked with consular officials and they said 90 days on passport is no problem and you can apply for residency while there or leave country for 1 day and come back for another 90. So it seems like 6 months at least should be no problem. Other question is would there be any problem opening a bank account if I can show a lease?

I lived in Budapest for a year (2008-09) and had no problem opening a bank account with my US passport. Can't recall for sure if they also wanted to see my apt. lease or a utility bill, but I don't think so. I opened my account at the Raiffeisen branch at Oktogon, and they were helpful and found an English-speaking employee to assist me.

The advice you got from that consulate sounds a bit dubious. You do get a 90-day stay with your US passport (same as for all Schengen zone countries), but extending it for another 90 days is definitely not as simple as leaving the Schengen zone and returning the next day. Technically you can only stay for 90 days in any 180-day period. So if you stay for 90 consecutive days, then you're supposed to stay outside the Schengen for 90 days before returning. But the enforcement of this definitely varies from country to country, so some places are better than others for making an exit/re-entry. PM me if you want more details on that.

I loved living in Budapest. I'm a chess player also, and had a number of Hungarian friends who played both chess and backgammon. I found the Hungarians to be a friendly and intellectual bunch, and hope to get back there for a visit soon. Feel free to PM me if you want bar/restaurant recommendations or other info.

Edit: iirc, there was (maybe still is?) a problem transferring funds from Moneybookers and/or poker sites to a Hungarian bank account that didn't have a Visa debit card attached to it. The default debit card issued for my Raiffeisen account had a Master card logo, but they issued me a Visa one upon request and I was then able to make transfers into my bank account without any problems.

Alan

What are your concerns about the upcoming online poker regulation?

Hi all,

For some details about the Hungarian regulation please click here:

hu.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/54681/

GL

Noémi

What is the tax situation regarding online poker in Hungary?

Unfortunately I don't speak Hungarian. Cliffs?

bump

Any news on the regulation / taxation of players?

Main points:

- online poker rooms must apply for permission, pay 20% tax from the revenue they earn from hungarian players rake
- only online poker and betting on horse racing will be allowed (lol?)
- hungarian government must have continuous and direct access to traffic data

If nobody translates the whole thing, I'm going to post it later.

There is no mention about the taxation of players but every winnings from legal gambling are tax free.

I'm an American living in Budapest since September. Budapest is an amazing city and there are like 10 of us relocated here now from the US. There are also a few quite strong Hungarian players living in Budapest. Getting setup to play was pretty easy for everyone I believe. If you have any specific questions feel free to send me a PM. We may have housing in one of the apartments here as well when you move so PM me in advance and I'll attempt to help.

James

James, I assume you obtained a residence permit? I'm going to Budapest in two weeks, have a passport but that is only good for 90 days. I have heard mixed answers on whether or not you need a residence permit because some say they have left the country for a day or two with their passport and successfully returned. Would like to hear your thoughts on this and any other help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yes I've obtained a residence permit. You can get them somewhat easily by going through the right steps, takes some paperwork and a couple hundred dollars tops. There are about 20 relocated players here now and I believe most have been successful in getting some type of extended residency. You can also leave the Schengen area every 90 days and they're accepting of that as well. Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me with anything I can help with.

Ok sounds good. I just made my 2+2 acc after years of lurking so i can't PM yet but I will when I can. Thanks again.

Hungary presented a bill to the EU Commission
(http://www.fortunaweb.hu/Elkeszult_a...s_tervezete661)

- gambling sites must pay 20% tax/year (nett income based)
- gambling sites must pay a license fee of 450.000$ (license is valid for 5years)
- gambling sites must have at least 1.000.000$ capital
- 2.5% fee in every QY for whatever reason (nett income based)
- tax free for players
- playerpool is nonsegregated



What do you think? Will the sites accept this?

Seems fairly reasonable. Will they also regulate the sites? Provide player protections against cheating, fraud, etc.? Require segregation of player funds?

I don't know these.

ahh and one other thing: sites must send a report in every two weeks to the hungarian authority .