General Question

zina's avatar

How do you find out about taxes, health care, etc as a dual citizen? (Hungary-US)

Asked by zina (1661points) July 6th, 2009

This is a rather unexpectedly weird situation. I’m a dual US-Hungarian citizen, and I’ve lived in the US all my life (except for short times in Hungary), and so as a non-resident I haven’t been involved in these things in Hungary. But now I’m moving back there for a year and I want to find out about both what I’m responsible to do (do I need to pay into social security? taxes?) and what the benefits might be (do I get health care? do I need to pay for it?). I’ve called the Hungarian Consulate and Embassy in the US, and they won’t give me any information on this, telling me to Google it (they deal with passports, visas, etc). My Hungarian language skills are intermediate, and my internet searching has been fairly fruitless. Any ideas? This seems like it should be strait-forward to figure out, and there should be some office that would tell you these things. I’d prefer not to pay a private organization or lawyer for advice/information on this.

Thanks for any ideas!

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5 Answers

JLeslie's avatar

I am not sure if you are asking about your benefits and obligations regarding Hungary, the US or both? I know there are tax accountants in the US who specialize in preparing taxes for ex-pats (US citizens who live outside of the country; recently laws have changed regarding this) the old rule was the first $75K you earned was tax free as long as you were in the US less than 30 days that year, or something like that. I do not think it matters that you are a dual citizen to the US, all that will matter is that you are a US citizen living outside of the country. Maybe go to www.IRS.gov and search on that site for expatriot obligations or living out of country. Things like if you can collect social security in the US would be found on the social security website, or you can call that office, I think the site is www.ssa.gov, but of course you will be able to collect social security from the US, but maybe there is an equivalent in Hungary if you want to find out about social services there?

Not sure I was helpful?

zina's avatar

Yes, I know (and can find out about) my rights/responsibilities in the US, but I’m looking for info now that I’ll be a resident in Hungary of my rights/responsibilities there.

Thanks for the link – it’s a very interesting document – but I’m looking for more current practical/logistical information on what I need to do, how, where, etc. The health care system in Hungary has changed significantly in the past few years, so it needs to be up-to-date—and I’d like to find info specifically for dual citizens or new citizens, to learn how to get INTO the system, how to start, how it might be different than for people who’ve been in it all their lives….

JLeslie's avatar

Hmmm. Everyone I know who is Hungarian has been in the states for quite a while, or I would be happy to ask them for you. Are you moving with a company, they should set you up with all of that info.

zina's avatar

No, I’m moving independently.

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