Hungarian customs to crack down on foreign licensing of autos

The Hungarian customs authority is launching a campaign to crack down on the growing number of "license plate fraud" cases in Hungary, collecting data on foreign-registered cars and opening channels with the countries where these automobiles are registered, business daily Világgazdaság reports.

Having a foreign-registered car in Hungary - like one with the Nigerian plates recently seen in Budapest - can save a local motorist thousands of euros in taxes. But the Hungarian authorities vow to crack down on the practice.

An increasing number of Hungarian drivers are using foreign license plates in order to skirt the country's high auto registration taxes and other levies. A car owner can reportedly save as much as Ft 1 million (€4,300) on such registration taxes, and more if a company is used to deduct related VAT and company car taxes.

While most such cases in the past involved cars registered in neighboring Slovakia, the authorities say that Hungarians are now registering their cars in countries such as Liechtenstein, Germany, and even the United States and some African nations.

To date, the Slovak and Hungarian authorities have identified suspicious cases involving around 2,000 private individuals and 3,000 companies.

National Customs Commander János Nagy said that in addition to constituting tax fraud, the improper use of foreign license plates also makes it more difficult to find and punish drivers who cause accidents or otherwise operate in breach of traffic laws.

Nagy said that there are plans to amend legislation in order to address the problem, but did not reveal any details.

One is only able to legally register a car outside of Hungary if they spend fewer than 180 days in the country.

If a person living in Hungary buys a car in another country and wants to use it here, they are legally obliged to report acquiring the vehicle and apply for a Hungarian license plate within one month.

Government Commissioner Ferenc Kondorosi, who is responsible for the "New Order and Freedom" program, also recently said that the government wants to crack down on the similarly common practice of removing front license plates, in order to make identification of a car harder.

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