Budgetary obligations are not limited to taxes and other payments under current legislation, nor solely to customs duties, guarantees for customs debts, non-EU taxes and fees. They cover a much wider range. This includes situations where the perpetrator fraudulently fails to fulfill other unilateral payment obligations towards the budget — for example, fines or contractual obligations — causing financial loss.

The law uses the broadest possible definition of “funds,” avoiding the narrow interpretation of “subsidies” as only direct, non-repayable grants. This removes obstacles to classifying breaches involving intervention subsidies, export refunds, and shared-management EU budget payments as budgetary fraud.

The result of the offense is a financial loss to the budget. This includes lost revenue due to non-payment of required contributions, as well as unlawfully obtained or misused funds from the budget.

The offense can only be committed as a principal by a person who bears the specific obligation, or who is the recipient/beneficiary of the funds in question. Indirect perpetrators or accomplices may include persons who do not themselves have a formal declaration obligation.

The law punishes only intentional acts — the perpetrator’s awareness must cover misleading another (by misrepresentation, omission, or concealment) regarding budgetary funds, understanding the nature of any benefit, knowing it is undeserved, or knowing that lawfully obtained funds will be used for other purposes. In all cases, foresight and acceptance (or intent) of causing financial loss is required.

The offense is complete when financial loss exceeding HUF 500,000 occurs. Losses below this threshold do not constitute a criminal offense under current law.

Unlimited mitigation is available if the perpetrator reimburses the loss before indictment — except in cases involving criminal conspiracy or recidivism. Importantly, tax self-revisions do not exempt from criminal liability, as their purpose is to correct prior tax declarations, not to resolve criminal matters.

Investigations often involve covert measures (covert surveillance of IT systems, secret searches, observation of locations, interception of mail, wiretapping) and, in open investigations, coercive measures affecting personal freedom (detention, arrest, searches, seizures, asset freezes) as well as corporate criminal sanctions (asset freezes, activity restrictions, fines, or criminal annotations in the company register).

Budgetary fraud cases often involve related offenses, such as the use of a false private document (Hungarian Criminal Code §345) or money laundering (§399). Typical suspects include — almost by default — the managing director, the finance department, the accountant, and, in cases involving sham contracts, the legal department. Organized commission (criminal conspiracy, criminal organization) and habitual conduct are also common.

The classification of the offense is determined by the value of the damage caused to the budget, which also defines the sentencing range:

Value thresholds:

Smaller: HUF 50,001 and HUF 500,000
Larger: HUF 500,001 and HUF 5,000,000
Significant: HUF 5,000,001 and HUF 50,000,000
Particularly large: HUF 50,000,001 and HUF 500,000,000
Particularly significant: Over HUF 500,000,001