Your success in new markets greatly depends on finding the right local partner.
We can be your local guides, and after more than two decades in the market, have a deep understanding of the business conditions and opportunities in Hungary. Whether you need insight in national and regional particularities and advantages, cost structures, funding, legal and fiscal parameters or staffing, InterGest will provide full support and extensive know-how. With InterGest you are in good hands.
Internationalisation
InterGest is an international, business administration and management firm committed to supporting export-oriented businesses in their international expansion, with expertise in helping companies establish and develop a local presence in foreign markets.
With offices in over 50 locations worldwide, InterGest supplies companies with crucial services and provides key advice for developing in new markets. From market entry and the establishment of a local operation through to the administration and management of branches and subsidiaries (including accounting, human resources, controlling and reporting) InterGest offers you unparalleled support with its comprehensive range of services and extensive expertise in international business.
Whether taking a country-specific, regional or global approach, our clients receive a flexible, tailored solution to ensure optimal growth in their target markets.
Business Establishment
When our clients wish to establish a local presence in foreign markets (eg. branch, subsidiary, holding company, representative office, etc.) we handle all establishment, incorporation and other formalities for them and provide comprehensive support and advice in the process.
To ensure the success of your operations from day one, our services include:
- Experienced multilingual staff who, in addition to Hungarian, usually speaks English or German, and deals with all office work, including bookkeeping and accounting
- An officially accredited accounting division
- An experienced team of professionals for all specialised fields of international commerce and banking
- Providing a registered office for your company
- Comprehensive invoicing and bookkeeping services, sales and inventory statistics, profit calculations, agents’ commission processing, and payroll service
Administration
The range of services offered by InterGest includes all administrative activities involved in operating a foreign establishment (eg. branch, subsidiary): accounting, controlling and reporting, human resources management.
In the first, preparatory phase, we will discuss your business objectives with you and, after thorough analysis, prepare a suitable legal and fiscal concept for your foreign operation. Then, we assist you in establishing your foreign operation and its organisational structure. InterGest will tailor its administrative services according to your requirements. Our clients of course have access to their current data and business processes at any given time.
Accounting
Although there are efforts to set uniform international accounting standards, regulations still differ from country to country and must be followed when preparing annual accounts.
Larger companies in particular often do the accounting within their corporate group in accordance with US-GAAP or IFRS in order to most easily consolidate their international operations.
InterGest has the ability to deal with both international and Hungarian standards, taking care of your financial accounting according to the requirements of your corporate group and of the local accounting regulations. The preparation of two annual balance sheets for a client – e.g. one in accordance with IFRS and one according to local regulations – is something we do all the time.
Controlling and Reporting
When you entrust a specialist with the administration of your foreign operations, you can expect full transparency when it comes to corporate reporting.
We offer clients an unprecedented level of customised, transparent reporting when establishing their business in international markets. Whether you wish to use your own MIS software or prefer Excel files, whether you require periodic reporting or would rather view your figures via a VPN connection – InterGest offers you the solution you prefer.
We provide the following services in this area:
- Periodic overview of all accounts of a foreign operation in the national currency or any foreign currency
- Periodic transnational overview of all the accounts of all foreign operations in a currency selected by the client (consolidated reporting)
- Country-specific and transnational budgeting as well as target/actual costs comparisons
- Periodic cost accounting with operating income calculations
Tax consultancy
Taxation is of great importance, as inappropriate decisions can have serious financial consequences. Proper tax planning can not only reduce costs, but also contribute to the tax optimisation of companies nationally and internationally. Staying up to date and constantly monitoring the tax landscape is essential. We effectively support our clients in all aspects of preparing and filing income tax and VAT returns.
VAT Refund
Hardly any area of company administration is more challenging from a tax point of view than dealing with cross-border VAT issues. Not only does practically every country have its own VAT system with different tax rates, but the question of where the VAT liability arises is also considerable. Especially in the case of frequently existing triangular transactions across more than one national border, even experienced tax experts are often at the end of their wisdom.
InterGest draws its expertise in this regard from its many years of experience in cross-border trade in goods and services as well as from the highly competent InterGest partners involved in this area, for whom VAT issues are part of everyday business.
Debitor Management
Overseas customers are used to following the payment periods and payment methods in their own country and will usually not want to follow the same norms as customers in your home market, which can be an issue when dealing with customers in various markets.
Companies that operate internationally often try to handle all their international debtor management centrally from their headquarters. Using a central ERP system with a merchandise management system may seem sensible and cost effective at first, but this one-size-fits-all approach can also cause considerable problems.
This is especially true when it comes to reminders to debtors and payment collection. It is here that international customers can quickly be alienated and lost, as differences in norms and methods in the various markets play a significant role. While in some countries it is quite common to send reminders after only two weeks, in others no written reminders are sent at all and customers with outstanding debts are simply phoned.
We advise our clients in these matters and provide a targeted service in this regard. Our job is to reconcile our clients’ need for liquidity with the payment habits of their customers.
Payroll
In contrast to financial accounting, there are no worldwide standards for payroll. Each country has its own system of taxes and various levies such as social security, pension fund or health insurance. This is also due to the fact that there is practically no IT system which is able to carry out payroll accounting in different countries as systems and programming diverge wildly.
At InterGest, we therefore offer not only competent local payroll services, but also cross-border elaborations that make different payroll systems comparable and thus transparent.
Our HR services ensure reliable and timely payroll. We take care of cost accounting and our experts can also help you negotiate with authorities and insurers. Among other things, we take care of:
- calculation and payment of social security contributions;
- processing registration procedures;
- settling health and accident insurance claims.
Human Resources
- Review and preparation of employment contracts, drafting of amendments;
- Preparation of internal regulations and regulations;
- Representation in communication with public authorities;
- Support also in termination procedures in accordance with the local legislation in force;
- Creation of a GDPR-compliant online archive for the storage of employee data;
- Provision of a Sharepoint interface for the secure transmission of personnel data;
- Employment law advice
Advice on cross-border employment; - Support for the implementation of an access control system;
- Support for the development of an electronic time recording system.
“Expat” services
• Administration of tax identification number, tax card;
• Administration of social security number, social security card;
• Application for tax certificates (tax, income and residence certificates);
• Administration of residence permits for third-country nationals;
• Registration certificates for EEA nationals;
• Preparation and transmission of the necessary notifications to the Directorate General for Aliens and the Labour Centre;
• Determining tax residence for the purposes of determining tax liability;
• Determining the country of residence of the insured person;
• Preparation and submission of annual personal income tax returns.
Subsidies from the EU and Hungary