Business Registers in Hungary: Cégjegyzék, EVNY & UBO Registry

Overview

Hungary's company registration framework is centred on the Cégjegyzék (Company Register), which is managed by the courts of registration and administered by the Országos Cégnyilvántartó és Céginformációs Szolgálat (OCCSZ, National Company Register and Company Information Service) under the Ministry of Justice. The register provides free public access to basic company data online, while more detailed documents, including certified extracts and articles of association, are available for a fee.

For KYB and AML professionals, Hungary offers company identity, directors, and shareholders through the commercial register. Financial statements are publicly filed and accessible. Beneficial ownership data is confined to a non-public registry operated by the tax authority, which limits transparency for compliance workflows.

Official Registers

Cégjegyzék: Company Register (OCCSZ)

The Cégjegyzék is Hungary's official company register, maintained by the regional courts of registration (cégbíróság) and accessible electronically through the OCCSZ. It covers all commercial entities incorporated or registered in Hungary, including limited liability companies, partnerships, joint-stock companies, sole proprietorships (egyéni cég), cooperatives, and branch offices of foreign companies.

The register records key company data: legal name, company registration number (cégjegyzékszám), registered address, legal form, date of incorporation, share capital, directors, method of representation, main activity code (TEÁOR), and company status. For joint-stock companies (Rt.) and limited liability companies (Kft.), the court of registration also publishes the company's articles of association and any amendments in the Cégközlöny (Company Gazette).

Basic company searches are available free of charge on the e-Cégjegyzék portal by company name, registration number, or tax number. More detailed information, including the certified company extract (cégkivonat), requires payment. The register is updated continuously as courts process filings.

The Cégközlöny (Company Gazette), the official journal of the Ministry of Justice, is available free of charge at cegkozlony.hu and publishes registration data and founding documents on a daily basis.

Egyéni Vállalkozók Nyilvántartása (EVNY): Sole Traders Registry

The EVNY is operated by the Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal (NAV, National Tax and Customs Administration) and is a separate register for sole traders (egyéni vállalkozó, EV). Unlike the Cégjegyzék, which covers commercial companies and sole proprietorships (egyéni cég, EC), the EVNY registers natural persons conducting business as sole traders.

The EVNY records the trader's name, address, activity codes, registration number (nyilvántartási szám), tax number, status, and registration dates. Registration is completed electronically through the government's client-gate system (ügyfélkapu), and no separate business licence application is required. The registry is searchable by registration number or tax number.

The egyéni vállalkozó (EV, a sole trader, a natural person registered in the EVNY) is distinct from the egyéni cég (EC, an individual company, a legal entity registered in the Cégjegyzék). The EC is created when a sole trader voluntarily registers as a company with the court of registration, gaining access to the commercial register framework while retaining unlimited personal liability.

Tényleges Tulajdonosi Nyilvántartás: UBO Registry

Hungary introduced its beneficial ownership registry in 2021, in line with the EU's 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, through Act XLIII of 2021. The registry is managed by NAV and covers entities registered in Hungary, including commercial companies and certain other organisations, as well as trust arrangements (bizalmi vagyonkezelési jogviszony).

Data is reported to NAV through the entity's payment account provider (bank), and the underlying data must be supplied by the entities themselves. Access to the UBO registry is not public. It is restricted to authorities, supervisory bodies, prosecutors, and obliged entities under anti-money laundering legislation (such as banks and other financial service providers conducting customer due diligence). Journalists and the general public have no right of access. From a compliance perspective, obliged entities must compare client-provided UBO data against the registry as part of their identification duties.

Unlike the Cégjegyzék, which is an authentic register carrying full legal evidentiary force, the UBO registry is a non-authentic public register. Its entries are self-reported and do not enjoy the same presumption of legal accuracy, so KYB teams should treat UBO data as a cross-check rather than conclusive proof.

Registration and Publication Requirements

Companies (Gazdasági Társaságok)

All commercial companies must register with the competent court of registration and are entered into the Cégjegyzék. The most common legal forms are:

• Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság (Kft.): limited liability company, the most prevalent form
• Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (Zrt.): private limited company (closed joint-stock company)
• Nyilvánosan Működő Részvénytársaság (Nyrt.): public limited company
• Betéti Társaság (Bt.): limited partnership
• Közkereseti Társaság (Kkt.): general partnership

All registered companies must file annual financial statements (éves beszámoló) electronically with the Céginformációs Szolgálat (Company Information Service). Publication must occur within five months of the end of the fiscal year. The statements are publicly accessible. Failure to publish can result in the deletion of the company's tax number and, ultimately, compulsory dissolution. Since 1 January 2025, any party (including competitors) may initiate a legality supervision procedure if financial statements are not publicly available.

Depending on the company's size (revenue, balance sheet total, headcount), companies may prepare a simplified annual report (egyszerűsített éves beszámoló) or, for the smallest entities, a micro-enterprise simplified annual report (mikrogazdálkodói egyszerűsített éves beszámoló). Listed companies and certain larger entities use IFRS.

UBO data must be reported through the company's payment service provider to the NAV UBO registry. Companies are responsible for providing accurate beneficial ownership information to their bank.

Sole Traders (Egyéni Vállalkozó) and Individual Companies (Egyéni Cég)

Sole traders (EV) register electronically with NAV through the client-gate system and are recorded in the EVNY, not in the Cégjegyzék. They bear unlimited personal liability and are subject to simplified tax and reporting obligations. NAV publishes certain revenue and tax data of sole traders annually.

A sole trader may optionally register as an egyéni cég (EC) with the court of registration, thereby entering the Cégjegyzék. The EC remains a one-person entity without separate legal personality, but gains the formal framework of a registered company. UBO obligations do not apply to sole traders, who are natural persons by definition.

Associations and Foundations

Associations (egyesület), foundations (alapítvány), and other civil-society organisations are registered with the courts but in a separate civil register (civil szervezetek nyilvántartása), not the Cégjegyzék. Registration forms are available from the courts' website. These entities are subject to their own reporting rules under separate legislation and are not covered by the commercial register framework.

Summary Table

With Topograph

Topograph retrieves structured company data and official documents from both the OCCSZ (Cégjegyzék) for commercial companies and the EVNY for sole traders. The primary identifier for commercial companies is the cégjegyzékszám registration number (10 digits, commonly written with hyphens as `01-09-430929`); sole traders are keyed by their 8-digit EVNY registration number (nyilvántartási szám). A lookup by tax number (adószám, format `XXXXXXXX-X-XX`) is also supported and is routed to the correct registry automatically.

Available Data

Company Profile

• Legal name and legal form (local and standardised)
• Company registration number (cégjegyzékszám)
• Tax number (adószám)
• Registered address
• Date of incorporation
• Share capital
• Company status
• Activity codes (TEÁOR, mapped to NACE and ISIC)
• Establishments (telephely)

Legal Representatives

• Directors and managing directors (active)
• Method of representation (joint or independent)

Other Key Persons

• Auditors
• Supervisory board members

Shareholders

• Shareholder names and ownership details (from Part II of the Trade Register Extract; for sole traders, the owner is mapped as 100% shareholder)

Note: Ultimate Beneficial Owner data is not available through the registries accessible to Topograph, as Hungary's UBO registry is restricted to authorities and obliged entities.

Available Documents

Financial statements are publicly filed in Hungary but are not delivered as a Topograph document. Articles of association are published in the Cégközlöny for Kft. and Rt. entities but are not delivered as a Topograph document. UBO extracts are not available, as the registry is non-public.

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