Hungarian companies scale back business lunches, report

Issues

Changes to the way Hungarian companies must account representation expenses has reduced the number of business lunches and dinners by 70%-80%, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Thursday. Since 2012, companies must pay income tax and healthcare contribution on representation expenses. These taxes add up to 51% of such expenses, the paper said. Earlier, companies could write off a part of the expenses. László Kovács, who heads the Hungarian Caterer’s Association, told the paper that, in order to keep their corporate clients, restaurants now often give companies an invoice that lists only the cost of renting a room to hold their business functions, but not the cost of food or drink.

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