Your Hungarian tax number is a small thing with a long name. The adóazonosító jel is the number on a card you will be asked for by your employer, your bank, your landlord's lawyer and, one day, the tax authority itself. Foreigners are not given it automatically, so getting a Hungarian tax number is a task for your first weeks.
The good news is that it is free, it takes about two weeks and the form exists in an English version.
What is the Hungarian tax number and who needs it?
The adóazonosító jel is your personal tax identification number, and the card that shows it is the adóigazolvány (also called adókártya). The tax authority, the Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal (NAV), issues both. The NAV states that a foreign private individual with taxable income in Hungary must request the number with form T34.
You need it as soon as you earn taxable income here (a salary, a contract, rent from a flat), and for several state benefits. Your employer may offer to request it for you.
How do you apply for a Hungarian tax number step by step?
- Register your stay first. The NAV asks for your address card (lakcímkártya), which you only receive after the OIF registration. See residence in Hungary for EU citizens.
- Download form T34 from the NAV website, with its English completion guide. Fill it in with capital letters and sign it.
- Hand it in at a NAV customer counter (ügyfélszolgálat), bringing the originals of your documents. This is the simplest way for a first application.
- Or post it, signed and in one copy, to the county (or Budapest) directorate of the NAV, with photocopies of your documents.
- Wait about 15 days. That is the processing time given by the NAV.
- If a payer must pay you once and you have no number yet, the payer can request one for you with the same T34.
- Report changes. According to the NAV's T34 completion guide, a change of postal address or other data is to be reported within 15 days with the T34, and failing to report can bring a default penalty. The NAV's page for foreigners adds that no default penalty applies to a private individual without regular business activity who is not obliged to give a mailing address.
Which documents do you need?
- Form T34, filled in and signed.
- An identity document: passport, identity card or other valid ID. If you are not Hungarian, add a copy and declare your nationality.
- Your address card as proof of address.
- Originals at the counter, copies by post.
On the T34 you also give the details of your Hungarian residence document, and you may add a postal address.
Form T34 is short but unforgiving: one wrong box and the counter sends you home. Moovy can go through your form and your documents with you before you leave. You still submit it yourself.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
- First tax card: free. It is also free when your data change (a new name, for example), or when the card is faulty, never arrived or was stolen.
- Replacing a lost, damaged or destroyed card: 4,000 HUF in administrative fees, payable by card at the NAV counter, online or by transfer.
- Processing time: 15 days.
What mistakes do people make?
- Assuming the OIF registration is enough. The OIF passes your address to the population register and you get a personal number and an address card. The tax number is a different thing, requested separately from the NAV.
- Looking for an online option. For people the NAV did not number ex officio, such as foreign workers, the card can be requested only by post or in person.
- Mixing up the three numbers. The tax number, the TAJ (social security number, see healthcare in Hungary) and the personal number linked to your address card are three separate numbers.
- Starting regular activity with only this number. The NAV says the number alone is not enough for a regular for-profit activity such as letting out property. A private entrepreneur's number comes first.
- Not giving a postal address. If the NAV does not know where to write, it uses the postal address you declared for official letters.
What if you live abroad but earn money in Hungary?
If you have taxable income in Hungary but no seat, home or place of stay here, the NAV's Large Taxpayers Directorate handles non-residents without a Hungarian address. Your Hungarian tax is then limited to income from Hungarian sources.
Does your nationality change anything?
Citizens of the EU and EEA bring an identity card or a passport together with the address card. Swiss citizens follow the same steps. British citizens use the same form T34, with a passport, and the NAV also asks for the data of the Hungarian residence permit; see moving to Hungary from the UK. Everyone pays in forints.
Once you hold the number, it is also what your payslip and your yearly return hang on.
What do you do with the tax number once you have it?
Your employer needs it to pay you correctly and to withhold the income tax, which is a flat 15% in 2026. The employer also withholds your social security contribution of 18.5%, and you should hand over your declarations for allowances (family, under-25s, mothers) early in the year if you qualify.
Your bank may ask for it too, along with your address card; see bank account in Hungary. If you buy a flat, the tax number is among the documents the buyer needs, because the tax authority calculates the transfer duty and sends you the payment notice.
In spring the tax authority prepares a draft return for you, which you open with your Ügyfélkapu+ login. That login is separate from the tax number: you get it in person at a government counter with your identity card or passport. Think of the tax number as the key to your file and Ügyfélkapu+ as the door to the online portal.
Where do you go in person?
You can use any customer service counter of the NAV for a first application, according to the NAV's own wording for the simplest route, so there is no need to find a particular office. Take the originals of your documents, a pen and your completed T34. If you post it instead, the directorate that handles your address is the one to send it to; a foreigner with an address in Hungary, even in rented housing, falls under the county directorate.
Counters are generally busier at the end of the month and around the filing deadline in May, so choose a quiet week. Staff may not speak English fluently, so a printed English completion guide with your Hungarian form filled in is a good companion.
What if your employer offers to do it for you?
Many employers do. The NAV allows a payer who must pay you a one-off amount to request the number on your behalf with the same T34 form. If you are employed regularly, ask your HR department what they need from you and when. Even then, keep a copy of your own tax card: when you change employer, you will need it again, and the card is yours, not the company's.
For the fuller sequence, including what to do before and after this step, read moving to Hungary.
The figures and deadlines on the NAV pages change from time to time, so check them before you go.