Cheaper fuel from October

Lower VAT on fuel, to be applied from October according to a bill presented in Parliament yesterday, could be an infringement of EU-rules, experts claim. Only goods listed in an EU directive or permitted with a derogation rule may be subject to a reduced rate, and fuels are not such goods in the case of Hungary. The Ministry of Finance wants to solve this problem by lowering the general VAT rate for all goods and services as of October, instead of January, as planned earlier. Application of the lower rate will start in January for goods and services other than fuels, however.