Simplified rules for digital archiving

On 1 July 2018, ITM Decree No. 1/2018 (VI.29.) came into force about the rules of digital archiving, which replaced the previous regulation from 2007. In connection with the previous regulation, several complaints have been raised that the related administrative burdens outweigh the benefits of digital archiving. This was the partial reason for introducing the new regulation, which - inter alia - aimed to simplify the rules.

Types of digital archiving have been partially preserved:

• usage of at least advanced electronic signature (in this case a third party, so called ‘trustworthy supplier’ may be applied, as well)
• ‘closed system’ (software or other IT solution): the requirements have decreased
• in the case of ’online invoice’: hash code
• for an electronic invoice created by the electronic data interchange (EDI) system: usage of the EDI system

Significant change is that the above list is not exhaustive anymore: in other words, in the case of fulfilling the necessary conditions (in principle) using another method may also be possible.

The two most significant simplifications are (i) the ignoring of the time stamp requirement and (ii) the procedure for online invoicing introduced this July. The application of the time stamp with the electronic signature was mandatory, which caused significant additional administrative burden for taxpayers.

In the case of invoices with VAT payable of at least HUF 100,000, each invoice receives a so-called hash-code when submitting the invoice data online. With keeping these hash-codes the requirements for digital archiving may be fulfilled for these documents.

We suggest our customers to consider the possibility of digital archiving, even in order to reduce document storage costs.