About us – the law firm
Katona & Partners Attorneys at Law was founded in 2005 after the founding attorney, Dr. Katona Géza, left the Hungarian partner law firm of the renowned Austrian business law firm, TaylorWessing e|n|w|c, and has been operating as a full-service business and tax law firm based in Budapest and Hamburg ever since.
In addition to Hungarian clients, our clientele consists mainly of German and Austrian companies, and we have served several well-known medium-sized and larger clients to their full satisfaction in recent years.
Accordingly, we represent our clients not only in Hungary, but also before authorities and courts in Germany and Austria, which means that our legal activities cross borders.
Our law firm has had a branch office in Germany since 2007, since 2019 in Hamburg, where the leading lawyer, Dr. Katona Géza, is also a registered member of the Hamburg Bar Association as a European lawyer. In addition, our law firm was in a well-known and renowned law firm specializing in customs and import VAT law, as well as excise tax, in Schrömbges + Partner Partnerschaftsgesellschaft Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater mbB in Hamburg.
In addition, our law firm also has considerable practice in insurance law, as Dr. Katona Géza is also an insurance specialist lawyer and has worked for many years as head of the legal department of one of the largest insurers, Euler Hermes.
In addition to Hungarian, Austrian and German national law, we always work with EU law, our team of dedicated and talented lawyers is fluent in Hungarian, German and English, negotiates more independently and drafts multilingual contracts and pleadings quickly and effectively.
Range of services
Our legal practice covers several areas in the field of LPO, which we would like to present to you below.
- Customs and import VAT law
Our law firm – as one of the few highly specialized law firms in customs and foreign trade law operating across borders in Hungary, Germany and Austria – is at the disposal of our clients in all customs, import turnover and excise tax matters as well as in foreign trade law.
The above areas of law require a highly specialized knowledge that can only be acquired through sufficient and extensive practice.
Our expertise covers all issues of importance to companies and our main areas of focus are the following topics, such as
Customs post-clearance recovery
Taxation of VC 42; intra-Community subsequent deliveries (obligation to provide evidence, protection of legitimate expectations)
Transfer price regulations
Value added tax law; international/cross-border value added tax law
Import VAT consulting
Tax structuring (structures incl. company law)
Excise duties
Transfer pricing systems
Transaction-related tax law (M&A, private equity, real estate deals)
Investment tax law
Tax litigation
From our tax and customs practice
Our profile in the area of tax and customs law is extremely diverse and also includes the following topics.
1. Customs duties and value added tax
In the EU, one of the main purposes of tariffs is to protect EU producers of goods from foreign competition by levying a tax on imported goods – protective tariffs – and are therefore only levied once, with the purpose of generating revenue – financial tariffs – not being the main focus.
Another important aspect of the European customs tariff is the possibility for the EU to conclude preferential agreements with third countries in order to bring about a mutual reduction in customs duties and economic integration (free trade and customs union agreements). In addition, the EU grants autonomous tariff suspensions and tariff quotas for goods that are needed by EU producers (and which are not available in the EU or not in sufficient quantities), as well as autonomous tariff preferences for developing countries (trade instead of aid).
Another additional purpose of customs law is to protect the security of the international supply chain. In particular, the institute of the “Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)” was created for this purpose, and risk analyses and risk management were implemented in customs law.
The purpose of VAT and the special excise duty, on the other hand, is to generate revenue for the public sector; in addition, VAT also covers services.In the world of customs duties and VAT, we are versatile and competent, according to the requirements of each case and client.
2. customs and tax consequences of the withdrawal of non-Union goods from customs supervision
In customs law, importation is not linked to the incurrence of a customs debt; rather, non-Union goods are subject to customs supervision when they are brought across the border. Only the customs debt concept of unlawful entry into the customs territory of the Union in Art. 202 CC refers the import to the customs claim of the state, which, in accordance with the economic customs concept, is linked to the immediate or imminent entry of a good into the economic cycle. Art. 203 CC regulates the withdrawal of non-Union goods from customs supervision. According to the prevailing opinion in Germany and Austria, the EUSt always follows the customs debt, even in the case of irregular customs debts; according to this, the EUSt is a type of customs duty. According to the prevailing view in German VAT literature, importation is the unlawful release for free circulation for customs purposes, in the sense that the goods have actually entered the economic cycle for domestic use.
Consequently, the free movement requirement should also apply in the event of irregularities. Customs debt law is not only characterized by the economic customs concept, but also by a sanction debt: violations of customs supervision regulations should be punished by means of customs debt law; a fine is not considered sufficient.
The circumstances in which the customs debt arises play an important role in import transactions, often lead to a dispute with the competent authorities and require legal support for the case.
3 EU principles – protection of legitimate expectations
The VAT Directive 2006/112/EC and the VAT Directive 2008/118/EC do not codify the protection of legitimate expectations, but they do in customs law in connection with binding information from the customs authority in accordance with Art. 12 CC and in the (subsequent) collection of customs duties in accordance with Art. 220 Para. 2 lit. b) and Art. 239 CC. Nevertheless, according to the established case law of the ECJ, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations is one of the principles of EU law (ECJ of 26.04.2005, C 376/02). Consequently, according to the case law of the ECJ, legitimate expectations are also protected in VAT law and the principle of legitimate expectations is part of primary Union law, it is also part of excise duty law.
Accordingly, a codification of the protection of legitimate expectations in VAT law can also be found in German and Austrian law.
Asserting the protection of legitimate expectations and other EU principles is a legal task that forms part of the effective representation of clients’ interests.
4. Chain transactions – VAT exemption in chain transactions VC 4200
A chain transaction pursuant to Section 3 (6) sentence 5 of the German VAT Act is deemed to exist if several traders conclude sales transactions for the same goods and these goods are transported directly from the first trader to the last customer. The transportation process underlying a chain transaction consists of several phases: First, an import delivery to the Community customs office and then a delivery under VC 4200. The latter in turn consists of two phases: A release for free circulation and a subsequent intra-Community delivery to the place of destination in a Member State.
The handling of chain transactions often requires legal support and problem solving, where we are of course also available to our clients.
5 The rules of origin – preferential and non-preferential origin
According to Art. 60 of the Union Customs Code, goods which have been wholly obtained or produced in a single country or territory are considered to originate in that country or territory. If the goods are produced by more than one company in different countries, paragraph 2 of this article must be applied, according to which the goods originate in the country in which they underwent the last substantial and economically justified working or processing.
Whether a treatment or processing of a product is to be regarded as substantial and economically justified depends on the circumstances of the individual case, which we also deal with, taking into account the relevant regulations.
6. Tariff classification – classification of goods consisting of different components and substances
Theoretically, it is easy to pay customs duty legally: you have to find out the commodity code and the duty rate, for example, free of charge via the German customs website or via the EU customs tariff of the EC (TARIC). But what to do if the goods are made up of different elements, as in one of our cases, where the goods were half split from toys and half from a foodstuff (chocolate). The decisive criterion for the tariff classification of goods is generally to be found in their objective characteristics and properties. In addition, the explanatory notes are an important, albeit non-binding, aid in the interpretation of the individual tariff headings. In the case of mixtures, goods consisting of different substances or components and combinations of goods put up for retail sale are classified according to the substance or component which gives them their essential character, if this substance or component can be determined.
The correct classification of goods is in itself a legal art that our law firm has mastered.
B) Intellectual Property (IP)
Our law firm also specializes in IP, in particular trademark law – trademark law often requires a great deal of tact and sensitivity in the field of intellectual property.
Our work is governed by EU law and we only consult internationally recognized – German – sources and commentaries for case solutions.
We are well prepared to accompany a company at all stages, such as
Trademark searches in national, EU and international databases with subsequent conclusions regarding registrability
National, EU and international trademark applications
Declarations against trademark applications
Trademark renewals
Proceedings in trademark infringements and trademark misuse cases (warnings, court filings, agreements)
Preparation of license agreements
How we work
We offer various services, such as research, legal opinions, drafting and reviewing contracts and pleadings.
We take a methodical approach to our work, consider legal and economic aspects of a case in a comprehensive manner, and our aim is to develop and offer advice and practical solutions tailored to our clients.
LPO – Cooperation
Legal Process Outsourcing is on the rise in Europe and the markets are still flexible. We want to be among the first law firms to take advantage of it as part of an LPO company within the framework of the free movement of services.
As a partner law firm, we have already gained extensive experience with back-office work – not only with routine tasks, but also with qualified assignments – and our legal ambition also burns from this position to give our best for the client.
Due to our team structure, our specialist and language skills and our cost structure, we are ideally suited to act successfully as an LPO cooperation partner. We would be happy to get to know you either by telephone or in person at any time.