Corporate tax 125 pct higher than last year

By Thanos Tsiros

Greek enterprises will have to pay more than twice as much corporate income tax this year as in 2013, as the Finance Ministry has issued demands for 3.8 billion euros to the 230,000 companies that have submitted their declarations – i.e. a 125 percent increase from last year.

The ministry has already collected all the data as enterprises had until May 30 to submit their income statements and have already started paying their taxes, payable in up to eight monthly installments.

This shows that one of the most ambitious targets of the year’s budget, for the collection of 3.891 billion euros from corporations against just 1.681 billion in 2013, might actually be attainable.

From the processed data that Kathimerini has seen, it emerges that the payable tax amount is very close to what the budget had provided for, so the question now is to what extent the enterprises will be able to fulfill their obligations by year-end.

The main reasons for the increase in tax due has been the rise to the baseline rate on 2013 earnings from 20 percent to 26 percent and the obligation to pay next year’s tax in advance.