According to a government decree published on 23 December 2025, the annual rebate amount available on the collection account for supporting Hungarian film productions will be HUF 70 billion in 2026. The cap for new registrations will be HUF 140 billion HUF, but only for the first half of 2026, while for the second half of the year another capped amount is expected to be published, most likely around June 2026.
The rebate amount available in the collection account for supporting Hungarian film productions for 2026 is set at HUF 70 billion. This is actually more than the original HUF 63 billion amount set in the annual state budget law for 2026, and although less than the 2025 amount of HUF 81 billion, still, it is expected to be nearly sufficient considering the recent decline in industry spending.
Similarly to 2025, there has also been a cap announced for new registrations in 2026. In a bit of unusual manner, the cap has only been set for the first half of 2026, in the amount of HUF 140 billion, of which HUF 21 billion has been reserved for projects with Hungarian participation. It is expected that the registration cap for the second half of 2026 will be regulated by another government decree, to be published around June 2026.
Considering the 2025 annual registration cap of HUF 407 billion and the fact that annual industry spending for 2026 is expected to be around HUF 300 billion, the HUF 140 billion cap seems to be a satisfactory amount on an annual pro-rata basis.
The newly announced 2026 registration cap is expected to be distributed on a first‑come, first‑served basis immediately among the productions that have already filed their registrations, but the process has been suspended and are now “standing” in the queue. As a result, it will become clear within weeks, probably by early February 2026, which film projects will be successfully registered, and which will have to wait further to get their registration.
Projects to be registered within the HUF 140 billion budget will be entitled to start submitting rebate claims retroactively from the start date of the production period.
Upon consultation with the National Film Office, we understand that none of the projects out of the 140 billion range would be rejected, either. Instead, they will need to wait for the next round or registrations, expectedly to be made after June 2026. New productions may also join the queue and, similar to the current practice, they will be suspended until their turn.
Furthermore, we expect that in the medium run, the registration cap actually available will also gradually expand if productions failed to start within the 12-month deadline upon registration, or if the eligible spend registered is reduced by the production voluntarily. This, however, is a time-consuming process, and its impact is likely to become noticeable only toward the end of 2026.
Based on the practice that have been evolved in the last few months, it seems that the strategy of the government is only to slow down the payment cycle for rebate amounts, while the scope of eligible spend and other competitive elements of the system would not change, so we expect the industry will soon adopt to the new circumstances and continue to prosper in 2026.
We, at Andersen, continue to closely monitor the government decree and will report on new developments as soon as they are known. Our previously published articles on this topic:
2025.12.11. – Change of Hungarian film rebate: shooting must be started within six months
2025.08.08. – Government decree regulating new film registration process is still on hold
2025.07.21. – Film registrations are reopened, but process takes longer
2025.06.16. – Hungarian film funding rises to HUF 81 billion in 2025