Pay your Hungarian taxes online through EFER

EFER is a tool with which you can pay your Hungarian taxes online by card. It is constantly under development, so you can already pay most taxes through it relevant to natural persons and freelancers, while companies still need to wait for their turn. Read on to learn how the system works.

What exactly is EFER?

EFER stands for Electronic Payment and Settlement System (“Elektronikus Fizetési és Elszámolási Rendszer” in Hungarian). It is not a standalone system like ONYA (the online tax reporting portal) or EBEV (the portal for reviewing your taxes payable). It is more like a plugin on these portals, created specifically for the safe and transparent payment of taxes.

When you are logged in through your Ügyfélkapu access at one of the government portals where you might be expected to pay a fee or a tax, you will be redirected to EFER, where you can make the payment by your credit or debit card in just a few minutes. Some portals where EFER is available include:

Magyarorszag.hu, where you can take care of various kinds of administrative tasks
ONYA, where you can report and pay your taxes
eSZJA, where you can report, review, and pay your personal income tax
EBEV, where you can review and pay your other taxes

Which taxes can be paid through EFER?

Currently not every tax can be paid through EFER. Relevant taxes and fees can be selected from a dropdown menu before payment.

Natural persons can pay most taxes and fees relevant to them.
Companies cannot pay most taxes relevant to them for now – they are simply not listed in the dropdown menu. The only taxes available for payment through EFER are those coded 219, 221, 239, 302, 521, 902, 910, 914, 956, 957 (see a list of tax codes here.) Other payments need to be made through bank transfer (learn more here).

Freelancers can again pay most of their taxes through EFER.
For example, when flat-rate taxpayers submit their quarterly reports through ONYA on the form 2358 (it is the same as form 2258 for the year 2022), the form calculates how much social security contribution and social contribution tax they must pay for tax code 406 and 258. Freelancers can also pay their quarterly personal income tax advance to tax code 103. (See a list of tax codes here.)

How does EFER work?

EFER is a plugin or sub-system accessible from the various government portals. When you are logged to take care of any reporting or administrative tasks, at one point you will either be redirected to EFER or will be prompted to select a specific option from the menu to get there. In ONYA, you need to select “Fizetés” (“Payment”) from the menu on the left.

To make your payment, first you will need to create a “payment package” by clicking the big green button in the top right corner saying “Új csomag összeállítása” (“Create new package”). In EFER you can make payments in bulk, so for example, as a freelancer you can pay both the social security contribution and the social contribution tax in one single payment. To achieve that, your payments will need to be combined in a “package”, so creating the package is the first step.

Next you need to set up the basic data of the payment package.

Specify a name – it makes sense to include the name of the tax(es) or fee(s) you are paying and the date so later you can easily recall what this package included.
Under “Fizetési módok” (“Payment method”), select the first, OTP Bank if you want to pay online via card, then select “Bankkártya (VPOS)” (“Card payment (VPOS)”) under it.
The “Payment date” will automatically set to the following day; you are not supposed to change that.
Under that, you must select your Name and your Tax Number from a dropdown menu. Normally there will be only one option, which belong to the user with which you are logged in.

Once you are done with this, you can add items to your package in the field on the right by clicking “Új Tétel” (“New Item”). A window will pop up where you can enter your data.

Add the amount you want to pay in HUF in the first row, under “Fizetés összege” (“Amount to pay”). The amount must be between HUF 10 and 10 million.
The next row is a dropdown menu where you can select the type of tax or fee you want to pay (“Adónem”).
The next row is a text field called “Ügyleírás” (“Description”). If you are paying a tax based on an order, you must add the number of the order here (“határozatszám”); this is the case for taxes coded 902, 910, 914, 956. If you are not paying a tax based on an order, make sure to add something that is easily understandable. For example, if you are paying the quarterly social contribution tax as a freelancer in April, you can add “2023 1. negyedév” (meaning “Q1 2023”).
When you are done, add the item to the package by pressing the green button labeled “Mehet” (“OK”) at the bottom of the window.

Once you have added every item, you can decide whether you want to Save the package and pay later (then click “Mentés” in the bottom left corner), or you want to Pay now (then click “Fizetés” next to the “Mentés” button). In either case, your package data will be saved.

If you click “Fizetés” (“Pay now”), you will be redirected to a page where you can submit the data on you bank card (name, card number, expiry date, CVC code) and process the payment. Once you have paid, you will be returned to EFER, where you can always review the status of your payment packages.

Hungarian tax payment made easy through EFER

EFER is a sub-system accessible from various government portals that lets you pay your dues easily with a bank card. It lets you bundle various payments into packages, so you can make one single payment instead of paying each tax differently. Most taxes and fees relevant to natural persons are already available in EFER, however, most company related taxes still need to be paid via bank transfer.

Helpers Finance provides accounting services to small and medium-sized businesses operating in Hungary, with a special focus on working with foreign owners. Through precise work and up-to-date knowledge of relevant regulations, our colleagues will always make sure you have all the information you need to make informed business decisions that will lead your Hungarian business to success.

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