Income Taxation Regimes for Private Entrepreneurs in Hungary and the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Private entrepreneurs have an important role in national economies worldwide. Most of them operate and assume legal obligations as private persons. Consequently, they are taxed pursuant to the legal regulations pertaining to personal income taxation in the respective countries. Incomes tax from individual activities is a substantial source of proceeds for national budgets. When taxes are imposed on the individual activities of private persons, they act as both taxable entities and taxpayers at the same time. They are obliged to account for the payable amount of taxes with the state, and present all the associated, necessary records. Therefore, the persons in question are to shoulder considerable administrative burdens. This aspect surfaces in increasing costs, because in most cases they have to rely on external, professional services. Countries aim at shaping taxation environments that encourage taxable persons to account for and state their own taxes. In pursuing this goal, most states have adopted several methods that allow the simpler quantification of the amounts of taxes beyond the scope of complicated accounting systems. This paper has set the objective to look into these methods in Hungary and the Slovak Republic. JEL Classification Numbers: H24, H25,