Cooperation between the Competition Authority and the Tax Authority
Today, Mr. János Szikora, the President of the Hungarian Tax and Financial Control Administration (APEH), and Mr. Zoltán Nagy, the President of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) have signed an agreement on cooperation. The two authorities already signed a similar document in August 1997, however, the experience gathered during the past ten years necessitated the modification of that agreement.
The Competition Act provides that fines imposed in competition supervision proceedings and not paid within the time limit set for the compliance qualify as public debt to be exacted like taxes. In that case, they are to be collected by the tax authority upon the official request of the GVH. Accordingly, the GVH contacts, and seeks the help from the tax authority on several occasions in each month. As the law does not regulate in detail the cooperation between them, the two authorities decided to enter into an agreement in order to make it smooth and fast.
The newly signed cooperation agreement affirms, besides other things, the right of the tax authority to withhold the budgetary subsidies due to the taxpayer up to the amount of public debts enforced as taxes. The GVH may monitor the process of fine collection.
Budapest, 10 July 2007
Hungarian Competition Authority
Communications Section
Further information:
András Mihálovits
Gazdasági Versenyhivatal
Address: 1054 Budapest, V., Alkotmány u. 5
Postal address: 1245 Budapest 5. POB 1036
Telephone: +36-30 618-6618
email:
Mihalovits.Andras@gvh.hu
http://www.gvh.hu