New family allowances attract 12,000 families in first three weeks in Hungary

According to Novák, state secretary in charge of family and youth matters at the Ministry of Human Capacities, the HUF 10 million prenatal support, which starts out as a loan and gradually turns into a grant as children are born, has received 3,000 applications and 1,300 couples have already been paid the support . Most applications were for the maximum amount of HUF 10 million. Pregnant women applying after the 12th week of pregnancy can immediately request suspending repayments for three years, she added. There have also been 3,000 applications for the extended waiver of mortgages for families with children and 6,400 for support on purchasing family cars, Novák said. Regarding the waiver on mortgage loans, the state secretary noted that since 1 July, families have been able to request a HUF 1 billion rebate when the second child is born, HUF 4 million when the third one is born, and HUF 1 million after each subsequent child. More families have applied for this scheme in the past three weeks than in the 18 months before , Novák said. Nursery developments are also continuing ad the government is providing increased funding for the scheme so that all working parents with nursery-aged children can benefit, Novák said, adding that on 1 January 2020, childcare allowance for grandparents and personal income tax exemption for mothers of four or more children will also be introduced. As for the income tax exemption, the tax bill adopted by Parliament last Friday provides for lifelong exemption from paying personal income tax on wages and salaries for all women who have raised at least four children. For the purposes of the exemption, adopted children and children who have since grown into adults will also count, and the system of family tax allowances will remain unaffected, Novák said. Thanks to the government's family protection action plan, families raising children could save HUF 162 billion in 2020, while loan-based support to families will total another HUF 700 million , the state secretary said. Cover photo: MTI/László Róka