Film and TV incentive in Hungary
Hungary runs the Hungarian Film Incentive: a cash rebate worth 30% (up to 37.5% with foreign costs). A payment on approved local spend, usually claimed after delivery or in stages. What matters is the queue: most cash rebates run from an annual budget.
The numbers
- Scheme
- Hungarian Film Incentive
- Type
- Cash rebate
- Headline rate
- 30% (up to 37.5% with foreign costs)
- Minimum local spend
- No published minimum; cultural test
- Cap per project
- No per-project cap; annual envelope HUF 70bn (2026)
- Funding
- Budget-limited Annual collection account of HUF 70bn. The HUF 140bn cap for new registrations in the first half of 2026 expired and registration reopened without a cap on 1 July 2026, with a backlog of several months
- Paid
- After audit, in HUF
- Foreign spend qualifies
- Partly
- Currency
- HUF
What this means for the cashflow
There is an annual pot and a queue. Applying early in the year matters, and a full pot can push a production to the next round. The production carries the gap until the money arrives, and that is a financing question rather than a budget line.
When it pays: After audit, in HUF.
The detail
Non-Hungarian costs may make up to 25% of the eligible spend, which lifts the effective rebate to 37.5% of Hungarian spend. Principal photography must start within 6 months of registration, applied for at least 30 days before the shoot. Paid in forint, so budget the currency risk; the NFI charges up to 2.5% administration.
What you have to submit
Registration procedure and forms, National Film Office. No downloadable Excel: the budget goes into the Film Office's form-filling application, with cost lines fixed by the decree annex. Hungarian language.
Building the budget first? Use the free film budget template or the Budget Builder, then map it onto whatever the fund asks for.
How it compares
Counted on the best rate a production can reach after tax, Hungary sits at number 16 of the 32 European schemes we track (30%). Work out the net value on your own spend, side by side with up to two other countries, in the incentive comparison.
Pays more
- France 30% (40% VFX-heavy)
- Spain (mainland) 30% / 25%
- Portugal 30% / 25% (large track); 30% to 40% (medium track)
Pays less
Other cash rebate schemes
- Netherlands Up to 35%
- Germany 30%
- Portugal 30% / 25% (large track); 30% to 40% (medium track)
- Malta 30% to 40%
- Czech Republic 25% (35% animation and VFX)
- Poland 30%
- Iceland 25% (35% for large productions)
- Austria Up to 30% (35% with Green Bonus)
Shooting there
We list 97 places to shoot in Hungary and 12 studios, production companies and post houses, each checked on its own site.
Source
Figures taken from National Film Institute Hungary and checked on 2026-09-05. Incentives change: confirm the current terms with the fund before you commit a budget to them.
All 32 incentives · Compare them on your own spend · Locations by country