SZÉP Card can buy groceries from December 2025

Groceries with the SZÉP Card

The SZÉP Card will be available for grocery shopping starting from December 1, 2025, until April 30, 2026, covering the holiday season and the upcoming general elections. This extension will include all kinds of food meant for human consumption, but not alcoholic beverages. If your grocery shopping normally includes other items, such as pet food, cosmetics, cleaning products, or any other non-food items that can be normally bought at grocery stores, handle those separately when you go to the cash register, since you will not be able to use your SZÉP Card to pay for them.

Previous extensions of SZÉP Card functions

The SZÉP Card (Széchenyi Pihenőkártya) is the most popular fringe benefit in Hungary, since it allows employers to offer benefits to employees at reduced tax rates while it can boost the economy in sectors related to recreation. Normally, it can be used to cover costs of recreational activities such as cultural activities (theater tickets, museum entry), holiday accommodation (hotels, hostels), and hot meals (at restaurants, diners, cafés). Originally, these 3 purposes were managed separately, and each SZÉP Card had separate “pockets”, so users were able to pay at restaurants only from the hot meal pocket, etc.

Starting from January 9, 2023, the original 3 pockets have been merged for good (leading up to that, the pockets had been merged only temporarily, first in 2021, and that ruling was later extended until September 30, 2022). Additionally, a new pocket was added to the SZÉP Card as of January 1, 2025, which is meant to encourage physical activity, available for gym or pool passes, and other sports related services. Moreover, as an extraordinary rule for 2025, half of the sum available on the SZÉP Card on January 1, 2025, or deposited there until use, may be spent on home renovation until the end of 2025.

Previous impact of SZÉP Card grocery shopping

This is not the first time that grocery shopping is made possible with the SZÉP Card. Same as now, this option was introduced as a temporary measure to help people better budget their income. First, this happened before the 2022 general elections, between February 1 and July 31, 2022. Next time, the extension was repeated between August 1 and December 31, 2023, as a reaction to the high inflation experienced over the summer.

According to reports on both occasions (2022, 2023), while users did regroup their payments, this did not significantly increase retail sales, even though the number of cash movements did obviously increase on SZÉP Cards. In February 2022, the sum spent from SZÉP Cards was twice as much as a year before, in February 2021. Interestingly enough, the 2023 increase was much lower, only at 27% compared to the data from the previous year.

At the same time, it is worth noting that in 2023, the government allowed for a temporary expansion of SZÉP Card allowances, increasing the yearly limit by HUF 200,000 (to HUF 650,000), which about 30% of employers utilized. Probably as a result of this expansion, about 5,000 new employers became SZÉP Card providers in 2023.

The SZÉP Card at your Hungarian company

The SZÉP Card is a fringe benefit you can use to make your company more attractive to employees. However, before you introduce it, you should consider whether it will be cost-effective for your business. While the SZÉP Card offers compensation at favorable tax rates, its administration increases the workload of your HR and payroll specialists. As a result, you should consult an expert about the pros and cons of introducing a fringe benefit plan at your Hungarian company before you make the decision.

Helpers Finance offers not only accounting and bookkeeping services to foreign business owners in Hungary, but also services related to payroll administration and HR compliance. If you need assistance in these areas, feel free to contact us.