Samaras announces VAT debt relief for enterprises

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited on Monday the General State Accounting Office and announced measures to provide some debt relief for thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises that will boost their cash flow.

Enterprises with debts to the state will have them offset with any debts the state may have toward them, while fines and additions to value-added tax imposed in the past on corporations for failure to pay VAT will be waived if they are owed VAT by state corporations.

The new system for the payment of VAT to the state, to be fully implemented from January 2015, will provide for the payment of VAT not when an invoice is issued but when it is eventually paid, as long as the company issuing the invoice is registered in the new electronic system, which is to be created this fall.

The system will originally concern firms with an annual turnover of up to 500,000 euros, expanding soon to 2 million euros following consultation with the European Commission.