Rebate

State revenues exceeded their target last year by at least 420 million euros, according to provisional data for December shared by Independent Authority for Public Revenue Director Giorgos Pitsilis with the agency's employees in a letter.

Pitsilis predicted that the definitive data, due in the coming days, will show an even greater overrun.

The January-October budget data reveal that the primary surplus overrun of 1.4 billion euros, to 6.4 billion, is due to the dramatic reductions in public investment and tax rebates.

Outstanding income tax and value-added tax rebates of up to 10,000 euros will be immediately paid out to businesses and individuals without any need for inspections, according to a circular issued on Wednesday by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue in accordance with the legislation.

Taxpayers and enterprises are still waiting for rebates totaling 1.8 billion euros from the Greek state. This is aggravating the liquidity problems of both households and the market, with Finance Ministry data showing that thousands of enterprises have been waiting more than four years for value-added tax refunds.

Spouses will now be able to submit separate income tax declarations if they so wish, following a verdict by the Council of State, and will then be able to receive separate tax clearance documents too.

The government is again scrambling to pay off its dues to taxpayers and suppliers in order to meet the target set by the country's creditors.

If the target is achieved, the eurozone will approve the disbursement of a 500-million-euro subtranche that is also destined for the repayment of state arrears.

Technical experts representing Greece's creditors are set to arrive in Athens on Wednesday, signaling the start of the third bailout review, and it appears that the pressure on Athens to fork out its dues to taxpayers has paid off, as the state has found the necessary funds to cover tax rebates of 4.077 billion euros since the start of the year - already exceeding the year's target by 753 milli

Figures released by the Greek Finance Ministry on Monday showed a fiscal gap widening by around 2.4 billion euros after the government paid out record tax rebates. 

According to Greek budget execution figures for the period January to September, increased tax rebates exacerbated the shortfall even as the government continues to raise levies. 

By next month the calculation of the social security contributions of 1.4 million self-employed professionals, freelance workers and farmers will have started, based on their 2016 incomes, and by the end of the year the process of offsetting rebates against any contribution debts will be completed according to a law recently passed through Parliament.

Below-target revenues in the first eight months of the year have led to the creation of a 1.7-billion-euro hole in the budget, according to the State General Accounting Office, which for the first time this year has brought the primary surplus below the target of the midterm fiscal plan, albeit marginally: It amounted to 3.55 billion euros, against 3.573 billion provided for in the budget.