Recently, we have been asked more often the questions about Electronic Public Road Trade Control System (EKAER). This system was introduced in January 2015 by the Hungarian government. It is designed to ensure the transparency of the movement of goods and thereby minimize potential tax evasion in the field of VAT. One Slovak company, which trades in building materials, turned to us for help in delivering the goods to Hungary. They wanted to transport goods from Slovakia to the customer who was a natural person. But the carrier asked them for the EKAER number. So how should the company proceed in accordance with the Hungarian law?
This company needed to dispatch a truck to Hungary with building materials heavier than 2 500 kg. It may seem that becauese of exceeding the limit for the weight of goods transported from the EU to Hungary their transportat is subject to EKAER, but this is not that case in this particular situation. The explanation is simple. Their customer is not subject to VAT in Hungary and building materials has just for his own use. Therefore, the EKAER reporting obligation does not apply to him. The person, who is obliged to report the transportat of goods from the EU to Hungary, is the recipient of the imported goods with a valid Hungarian VAT number. But in this case, the recipient of the imported goods in Hungary is the end user who is not subject to VAT, therefore there is no need for EKAER.