Rules of teleworking in Hungarian emergency pandemic

Thanks to the improvement of digital technology, working from home is a great and frequent solution to handle emergency cases caused by COVID-19. To make employer’s reactions faster in this emergency pandemic situation, some legislation needs to be modified pro tempore.

On the 11th of November 2020 appeared number 244. of the Hungarian Gazette containing the rules of the Occupational Safety and also the rules of Taxation about teleworking.

THE HUNGARIAN LABOR CODE DEFINES THE MEANING OF TELEWORKING:

conference call from home

196§(1) ‘Teleworking’ shall mean activities performed on a regular basis at a place other than the employer’s facilities, using computing equipment, where the end product is delivered by way of electronic means.

According to the previous regulation of the Hungarian Labor Code we were talking about teleworking if the Employer and the Employee agreed in the employment contract. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an actual opportunity to make a separate agreement in which they can deviate from the Labor Code. Besides, the §86/A – regulation about occupational safety – should not be used temporarily. The Employer has to inform the Employee about the rules of safety and healthy working and the Employee has to choose the place of the working accordingly.

REIMBURSEMENT IN CASE OF TELEWORKING

According to the 487/2020 (11.XI) government decree, the Personal Income Tax Law has been modified and the reimbursement in case of teleworking turned into a non-taxable benefit.

Until 10% of the minimum wage, 16.100 HUF, costs can be reimbursed if:

  • the Employment Contract includes the agreement about teleworking (in case the teleworking is ordered by the employer this rule is not applicable)
  • the non-taxable amount is 10% of the minimum wage, 16.100 HUF
  • the teleworking is not applied for the full month, then the days with teleworking has to be taken into account pro-rated.
  • the private person in case of teleworking does not count any other reimbursement according to the point. 24. c) and d) in law CXVII. Appendix number 3. I. About typically incurred costs.

Also because of the occupational and data protection safety, it is worth including the condition of the teleworking in an internal policy.

Check out more blogs regarding Hungarian payroll and HR.

Contact:

Rafał Nadolny
MD Poland,
Partner

Daniela Zsigmond
MD Romania,
Partner

Tamás Kovács
MD Hungary,
Partner


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