MET PRESS RELEASE: THE HUNGARIAN TAX AUTHORITY (NAV) HAS SUSPENDED OUR ACCOUNTS

On 16 July, the NAV unexpectedly started to reclaim all of the institutional bank accounts of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (HEF), the Oltalom Charity Society and the John Wesley College of Pastoral Studies. Not only did it wipe out their balances, but it also imposed a substantial debt on them.

In addition to the funds set aside for operations, our accounts were also debited for grant money that we had won for specific projects, and we were held to strict accountability for how the money was spent. The nearly HUF 8 million in grant funding that our Szeged school received for the renovation of the gymnasium has also disappeared from the account, even though demolition work has already begun. Euro and dollar grants from the Erasmus and US NDI tenders have also been collected.

This also means that even if public aid were to be received, it would automatically be transferred to the NAV account, and we would still not have access to this money. Without funds, it is completely impossible to maintain operations. The collection of the normative grant for the Oltalom Hospital for the homeless is literally putting lives at risk.

The following steps have led to the current situation:

• Since 2011, when the former church status of the HEF was unconstitutionally withdrawn, we have had to perform the same social and educational tasks taken over from the state through the withdrawal of additional support, then the partial and then total withdrawal of normative state support.
• The ruling of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights on the restoration of the status has not been implemented by the Hungarian state, and the resulting withdrawal of resources has resulted in HEF accumulating significant public debts.
• We only regained the right to collect the clerical 1%, our technical number, in 2021, so we lost significant additional revenue due to the absence of this for several years.
• Already in 2023, the public normativesupports started to be withdrawn from public funds, so HEF did not have full access to the subsidy that just covered salaries, and therefore our employees did not receive salaries for almost half a year.
• The prosecution challenged the final decision of the Constitutional Court on our registered church status, which was upheld by the Curia, so our status has changed. Downgraded to a registered church, we are no longer entitled to the additional subsidy for 1% donations, which in our case means hundreds of millions of euros. We have lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court, and it is a question of when we will receive the decision of the Constitutional Court.
• HEF commissioned a team of experts to submit an economic action plan and then a debt settlement plan to the relevant heads of the NAV and the Ministry of the Interior, so that we can maintain our services to our beneficiaries in a crisis situation. From these technical papers, we have made it clear that our institutional system is sustainable and can be run on an ongoing basis with the help of state normative subsidies, restructuring and the introduction of crisis budgets. We have submitted a timetabled debt settlement, broken down by institution, which will enable us to repay all our public debts within five years.
• We have held personal meetings with the Ministry of the Interior and the NAV, we have supplemented the submissions taking into account their suggestions, and we have held fruitful negotiations with our service providers on the settlement of utility debts in instalments and the subsequent start of repayments.
• Although we have demonstrated to the competent authorities the sustainability of our operations based on normative subsidies by presenting action and debt settlement plans and our determination to stop the accumulation of our debts and to repay public debts in the foreseeable future, in July 2024 we had no social and education normative subsidies at all, so we were only able to pay about 20% of the salaries from our reserves.
• As of 16 July, all our institutional accounts have been seized and debited.
• Between 1 January 2024 and 30 June 2024, 1.028 billion forints were withdrawn to pay off our public debt accumulated from the normative.

We are in continuous negotiations with the competent leaders of the NAV and the Ministry of Interior, we hope for a quick resolution of the situation, the cancellation of the collection, and the full and regular receipt of the full amount of the statutory payments due for the work we have done. It is in our common interest that our institutions, which provide a full range of pedagogical services to disadvantaged and challenged children, should survive, that we should continue to carry out the professional tasks we have taken over from the state, and that we should start to settle our debts.

We are deeply concerned about the seemingly bleak future of our vulnerable service users and staff at this time. Six hundred of our staff provide an irreplaceable service to thousands of students, the majority of whom are disadvantaged, have special educational needs, are homeless, are in crisis or are elderly. If the NAV takes 100% of all our income, it will not only jeopardise the livelihoods of thousands of people, but will also make it completely impossible for them to settle their debts.

Until the situation is resolved, the collection of taxes is a huge challenge to ensure day-to-day operations, with only 12 hours of operating costs at our disposal. Our official account numbers are temporarily unavailable, so we are asking our supporters to temporarily donate to the SZALMASZÁL Homeless Foundation.

10400140-00033688-00000006 (K&H)
IBAN: HU52 1040 0140 0003 3688 0000 0006

SWIFT/BIC: OKHBHUHB

Cash donations can also be handed in at the HEF cash desk every day between 9-16 (1086 Budapest, Dankó u. 15.)

Non-perishable food donations are always gratefully accepted at the HEF’s reception at 1086 Budapest, Dankó u. 11.

We respectfully ask our press colleagues and all our helpful supporters to publicise our critical situation and to facilitate an early agreement with the authorities and inform our potential benefactors.

We will keep you informed of developments in our negotiations and financial status.

Contact: sajto@metegyhaz.hu; Zsófia Vajay +3630 8434672