The articles of association are either standard articles with legally stipulated contents or individually stipulated articles. The articles of association must be certified by a notary or a lawyer and must contain the registered office of the company (with address), the main activity of the company, the first member of the supervisory board, and the first auditor (if the company is obliged to elect a supervisory board and an auditor). From this time on, the company is active as a “company prior to registration”. This means that the company already exists, but is only allowed to transact business at Step 4 – after registration of the company.

The certified articles of association are required for the preparation of the corporate signature sheet; this can be taken care of at the same time as Steps 1 and 3.

Opening a provisional deposit account into which the members must pay the nominal capital. The articles of association and the corporate signature sheet are required to open the account; this can be taken care of at the same time as Steps 1 and 2.

Minimum nominal capital approx. EUR 12 000 (HUF 3 000 000). The nominal capital can consist of monetary funds and a contribution in kind. The exact ratio of the monetary funds and the contribution in kind is not prescribed by law. It is possible to incorporate a private company limited exclusively with a contribution in kind. The company is registered if at least one-half of the original capital share assumed by each shareholder is paid in. A confirmation of the payment of the nominal capital must be submitted with the application to the court keeping the book of firms for the registration of the firm (the remaining sum of the monetary funds must be paid in within one year after the registration of the firm). The contribution in kind must be only be put at the disposal of the company in its entirety if the value of the contribution in kind is greater than one-half the nominal capital (otherwise the remaining part of the contribution in the form of funds must be made available within three years after the registration of the company).

An application for the registration of the firm must be directed to the court keeping the book of firms within 30 days after the articles of association are drawn up. When the application is made, the company shall receive a number in the register of firms, a tax number, and a statistics number.

Reporting of data to the tax authority, the Central Statistical Office, the social insurance authority, and the local authority.

In the event of incorporation without standard articles of association (only with individually stipulated articles), the court keeping the book of firms must order the registration within 30 business days. This period can be extended by 20 working days if defects must be remedied. In the event of incorporation with standard articles of association, the official registration period is 15 business days (extended by 10 business days if defects are remedied).

Starting from 1 October 2007, these procedural periods will be changed as follows:

• In the event of incorporation without standard articles of association – registration period 15 business days (remedying of defects – 8 business days)
• In the event of incorporation with standard articles of association – registration period 8 business days (remedying of defects – 5 business days)

The company prior to registration shall expire when the company is registered; a closing balance sheet must be drawn up.