Half a million Hungarians don't declare any personal income - paper

Banking

As many as half a million Hungarians do not declare any personal income, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Monday.

Tax expert Szabolcs Vámosi-Nagy, the former deputy chief of Hungary's tax office, said an estimate that half a million Hungarians do not declare any of their income was realistic. About 1.2m people declare they earn the minimum wage or less on their tax returns, but that number is unrealistic; personal income tax evasion is widespread, he added.

There were an average 3.8m Hungarians employed in May-July, the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (KSH) show.

Péter Szabó, department head at KSH, told the paper that Hungary's shadow economy was worth HUF 4,600 billion or 17-18% of GDP, up from 15% in 2002. The shadow economy probably grew because of the crisis, he added.

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