Country deep dive
Hungary's RTIR system is one of Europe's most mature transaction-reporting regimes, reaching near-universal scope by 2021 -- but it reports invoice DATA, not the document format. That changed narrowly from 1 July 2025 for energy/water B2B suppliers, Hungary's first genuine e-invoicing mandate. A comprehensive future framework remains proposed; ViDA's cross-border floor applies from 1 July 2030 regardless.
From 1 July 2018, Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) required domestic B2B invoices with a VAT amount above HUF 100,000 to be reported through the Online Szamla system. Software-generated invoices had to be reported immediately, without human intervention; handwritten paper invoices had 5 calendar days (VAT HUF 100,000-500,000) or 1 calendar day (VAT above HUF 500,000). This is a transaction-data reporting duty, not an e-invoicing mandate -- the invoice itself could remain paper or PDF, and nothing required it to be issued electronically. Only its data had to reach NAV, in real time.
From 1 July 2020, the HUF 100,000 VAT threshold that had limited RTIR's scope since 2018 was removed entirely: every domestic B2B invoice between taxable persons in Hungary now has to be reported to NAV via Online Szamla, regardless of its value. Still a data-reporting duty rather than an e-invoicing mandate -- issuing the invoice itself electronically remains optional.
From 1 January 2021, Hungary widened RTIR's scope again to cover B2C invoices, intra-Community supplies, and export invoices -- not just domestic B2B. By this point, RTIR's real-time transaction-data reporting duty applies to essentially every VAT-relevant invoice a Hungarian business issues, regardless of who the customer is or where they're located. This remains a reporting obligation, not a requirement to issue e-invoices.
From 1 July 2025, invoices for the supply of electricity, natural gas, and water utilities to non-private (business) customers must be issued exclusively in electronic form. This is a genuinely different obligation from RTIR's data-reporting duty above: it's Hungary's first real requirement that an invoice actually be issued electronically, not merely reported. The legislation doesn't prescribe a specific format or transmission channel -- any format and method accepted by NAV qualifies. Scope is narrow -- energy and water B2B supplies only -- not an economy-wide B2B e-invoicing mandate.
From 1 September 2026, Hungarian businesses must also supply receipt data -- not just invoice data -- to NAV's systems. Businesses using connected cash registers or e-cash registers comply automatically; others must transmit receipt data within 3 days. A full transition to e-cash registers is required by 1 July 2028. Like RTIR itself, this is a data-reporting duty covering the receipt/point-of-sale side of a transaction, not a requirement to issue receipts or invoices in any particular electronic format.
Regardless of whether Hungary ever enacts a general domestic B2B e-invoicing mandate -- as of this writing, only sector-specific rules (energy/water) and data-reporting duties (RTIR, receipts) exist, though a comprehensive framework is under consultation -- the EU's VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) directive requires structured e-invoicing and digital reporting for intra-Community B2B transactions from 1 July 2030, confirmed EU law (Council Directive (EU) 2025/516).
RTIR transmits invoice data through NAV's Online Szamla API, typically in NAV's own XML schema generated directly by invoicing/accounting software; it does not mandate a specific invoice document format, since the invoice itself can remain paper or PDF outside the energy/water sector. Where a real e-invoicing mandate does apply (electricity, gas, and water B2B supplies since July 2025), the legislation doesn't prescribe a specific format either -- any format and transmission method NAV accepts qualifies. B2G invoicing follows the EN 16931 European Standard, as in every EU member state.
Don't confuse RTIR's mandatory XML data submission with a requirement to issue the invoice itself in that format -- outside the energy/water sector, a Hungarian business can still send a paper or PDF invoice and remain fully RTIR-compliant.
Most invoicing/accounting software used in Hungary has RTIR reporting built in -- confirm yours actually submits automatically rather than relying on manual upload, given how tight the software-invoice deadline is.
The manual-invoice deadline tiers are a legacy of the original 2018 threshold design -- worth knowing even though every invoice, regardless of value, must now be reported.
RTIR's data-reporting duty now covers essentially all VAT-registered businesses in Hungary, for domestic B2B, B2C, export, and intra-Community invoices alike -- a scope that took three steps (2018, 2020, 2021) to reach. Layered on top, the July 2025 e-invoicing issuance mandate is deliberately narrow: only electricity, natural gas, and water utility suppliers, only for B2B supplies to non-private customers. From September 2026, all businesses -- not just VAT-registered ones supplying B2B -- come into scope for receipt-data reporting. No general domestic B2B e-invoicing mandate exists yet; the November 2025 consultation's proposed scope (domestic B2B, intra-EU B2B, and B2G) has no confirmed date.
It's worth being precise about which layer applies to you: nearly every Hungarian business already reports under RTIR, but very few are yet required to actually issue an e-invoice.
Treat every detail here as a proposal, not a commitment -- NAV's own consultation makes clear the final shape and date are still open.
Outside the energy/water sector, a Hungarian invoice moves through this sequence -- note RTIR reports the invoice's DATA, not the document itself:
The invoice is legally valid on issuance regardless of format -- NAV is not asked to clear or approve it first, unlike the clearance-model mandates covered elsewhere in this tracker (Colombia, Argentina, Jordan). Only for energy/water B2B supplies (from July 2025) must the invoice document itself actually be electronic.
Because RTIR's reporting duty is already close to universal, most Hungarian businesses' near-term work is about layering new obligations onto existing RTIR connectivity rather than building compliance from scratch: energy/water suppliers need actual e-invoicing capability, most other businesses need to get ready for receipt-data reporting by September 2026, and everyone should watch the comprehensive e-invoicing consultation for a future domestic B2B mandate.
RTIR now covers domestic B2B, B2C, export, and intra-Community invoices with no value threshold -- confirm your invoicing/accounting software reports all of them immediately, not just a subset.
Since 1 July 2025, B2B supplies in this sector require an actual electronic invoice, not just RTIR-reported data -- confirm your invoicing process has made this switch.
Confirm whether your point-of-sale setup already uses a connected cash register or e-cash register -- if not, plan for 3-day manual receipt reporting now and the full e-cash-register transition by 1 July 2028.
The November 2025 consultation and March 2026 concept paper propose unified EN 16931 XML invoicing and buyer-side reporting -- no enacted date yet, but worth tracking given how far RTIR's reporting infrastructure already reaches.
Every business doing intra-EU B2B trade needs EN 16931 e-invoicing and digital reporting capability from 1 July 2030 -- this date is fixed by EU directive, not Hungarian discretion.
Hungary backs RTIR with real, sourced penalties: up to HUF 500,000 per invoice not reported, reported late, incompletely, incorrectly, or untruthfully, plus a separate HUF 300,000 fine (from 1 January 2025) for failing to respond to a NAV clarification request within 15 days. No penalty schedule specific to the narrower July 2025 energy/water e-invoicing mandate was found in research as of this writing.
Other countries in the same region, ordered by their next dated milestone. Each links to a full briefing.