Fringe benefits in Hungary – Cafeteria 2025

What is cafeteria in Hungary?

Regular salaries can be spent any way an employe sees fit. Fringe benefits, on the other hand, belong to the category of “non-salary compensation”, and they can be spent only on specific types of services. This way the sectors providing those services receive a boost. In 2025, the most boosted sectors are hospitality and housing.

In exchange for these targeted boosts, employers and employees receive tax benefits or even tax exemptions.

However, Hungarian employers are not obliged to offer fringe benefits to their employees. When they do, they have to create a fringe benefit plan from the available elements. They can pick and choose what they like, just like they were in a cafeteria – hence the name.

Creating a fringe benefit plan

Before you start offering fringe benefits to your employees, you should make detailed calculations to see if they are worth the hassle. Fringe benefits may offer serious tax reduction, but they increase your administrative costs. As a result, fringe benefits might not create significant savings at the smallest companies.

You should also consult your employees about your plans. Since offering compensation in the form of fringe benefits may limit how they can spend their earnings, you will want to make sure that your employees are happy with the changes and can appreciate the tax benefits they receive.

Taxes on salary and on fringe benefits

In Hungary, taxes are based on the gross salary of an employee. Standard taxes are the following:

15% Personal Income Tax
18.5% Social Security Contribution
13% Social Contribution Tax; this is the employer’s tax above the gross salary

Fringe benefits provide more favorable tax structures by waiving one or more of these.

Cafeteria elements that are tax free (tax rate 0.00%)

The 0% tax rate cafeteria elements our clients are most often interested in are listed below. A few other elements are also available, but they are usually not relevant for foreign-owned SMEs in Hungary.

Children’s daycare
Screening and vaccination that are meant to contain an epidemic
Compensation for teleworking employees – at most 10% of the minimum wage, so HUF 29,080 / month in 2025
Tickets to various cultural events, programs, services (e.g. theater, circus, library): max. the current minimum wage (290,800 HUF) / year
Passes to sport events, only if the ticket or pass cannot be returned: max. the current minimum wage (290,800 HUF) / year
Zoo entrance tickets: max. the current minimum wage (290,800 HUF) / year
Wine as a gift, if purchased directly from a Hungarian winery
Commute expenses: for public transport, car, or electric bike. Read more here.

Cafeteria elements at a tax rate of 28%

After some fringe benefits, only the Personal Income Tax and the Social Contribution Tax must be paid, while employers can save on the Social Security Tax. These are the following:

1. Széchenyi Recreation Card (or SZÉP Card for short)

Employers may provide at most HUF 570,000 a year in this format, which may be spent in accordance with the following:

HUF 450,000 may be assigned for hot meals, holiday accommodation and cultural activities
HUF 120,000 may be assigned for sport services
Half of what the employee has at the time of use may be spent on home renovation

You can read more about the SZÉP Card here.

2. Housing Allowance

Employers may offer a housing allowance to employees who are under 35 years.

The sum may be up to HUF 150,000 / month or HUF 1.8 million / year.
It may be spent either on rent or on the repayment of a housing loan.

Cafeteria elements at a tax rate of 33.04%

In these cases, the tax base is the 118% of the value of the benefit, while the taxes payable are still the Personal Income Tax and the Social Contribution Tax.

SZÉP Card payments made on top of the above mentioned limits
Housing allowance to those under 35 made on top of the above mentioned limit
Gifts of small value may be given at most 3 times a year, each time up to 10% of the minimum wage (meaning HUF 29,080 in 2025)

Further cafeteria elements at the regular payroll tax rate

The employer may also provide fringe benefits at the regular payroll tax rate:

Contributions to a voluntary healthcare fund
Contributions to a voluntary pension fund

Here the benefits apply only to the employee, as they can get a tax reimbursement after 20% of their funds up to HUF 150,000 each year. However, they can enjoy the same benefits even if they make the contributions to the funds on their own.

While not strictly related to fringe benefits, it is worth noting that the funds accumulated in voluntary pension funds until September 30, 2024, may be used for housing purposes in 2025 (otherwise account holders would be required to pay taxes on the interests).

Update your Cafeteria Plan now

If your Hungarian company already has a cafeteria plan, make sure to update it by the end of January, and send a notice to your employees. Ask your accountant or payroll advisor to help you review and make adjustments to it. Since available fringe benefits might be updated at the start of each year, like in 2025, this will be a recurring task for every January.

If you do not yet have a cafeteria plan at your Hungarian company, you may create one at any point of the year. Just make sure you consider if it will really benefit both your business and your employees.

Ask your accountant, your payroll specialist, or your HR advisor about your options. At Helpers, we provide a one-stop-shop for setting up and operating a business in Hungary. Our accountants and other colleagues are always ready to support you on your journey toward success.

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