Hungary puts a 27% to 5% firewood VAT cut out for public consultation
This change is proposed and is not law. The rules below describe what would change if it is adopted.
This page records one dated change. For the rules in Hungary as they stand today, see the Hungary guide →
- Jurisdiction
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- Proposed
- Impact
- Watch
- Announced
- 4 August 2026
- Authority
- Pénzügyminisztérium / Government of Hungary
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · medium confidence
Sellers of firewood to Hungarian households, and anyone maintaining Hungarian VAT rate tables. The current rate is the 27% standard rate and remains so — the 5% rate exists only in a draft under consultation.
No action — monitoring only. A draft amendment is in public consultation; do not configure a 5% Hungarian firewood rate until an adopted instrument with a commencement date is published.
The Government of Hungary announced that it will reduce the VAT rate on firewood from 27% to 5%. On 4 August 2026 the Ministry of Finance published a draft amendment to the Value Added Tax Act (2007. évi CXXVII. törvény) governing the sale of firewood for public consultation (társadalmi egyeztetés), with a consultation deadline of 12 August 2026. The draft has not been adopted, has no Magyar Közlöny publication and is not before the Országgyűlés as a numbered bill.
What changed in detail
Nothing has been legislated. Hungary’s standard VAT rate of 27% still applies to firewood.
On 4 August 2026 the Pénzügyminisztérium (Ministry of Finance) published a draft amendment to the Value Added Tax Act (2007. évi CXXVII. törvény) for public consultation — társadalmi egyeztetés — covering the VAT treatment of firewood sales. The consultation closed on 12 August 2026. The government had earlier said it would cut the rate from 27% to 5% “from the autumn” (ősztől), without naming a date.
The draft is at consultation stage. It has not been adopted, has no Magyar Közlöny publication, and is not before the Országgyűlés as a numbered bill.
What it means
This item has been reported carelessly more than once, in both directions, and it is worth being precise about what is and is not known.
A published draft with a consultation deadline is a materially firmer signal than the press announcement that preceded it — it means text exists and a ministry has committed to it. It is still not law. Hungarian tax legislation routinely changes between consultation draft and adopted act, and a rate table configured off a draft is a rate table configured off something that may not happen.
The reasonable posture is to plan for a reduced firewood rate in the autumn and to configure nothing until an adopted instrument carries a commencement date.
Proof
Társadalmi egyeztetés a tűzifa értékesítésére alkalmazandó általános forgalmi adóról szóló 2007. évi CXXVII. törvény módosításárólPublic consultation on the amendment of Act CXXVII of 2007 on value added tax as applicable to the sale of firewood
Archived from the official distribution · Pénzügyminisztérium társadalmi egyeztetés, published 2026.08.04, consultation deadline 2026.08.12 · kormany.hu