Tax

A record 128,000 individuals with a net worth exceeding €1 million are expected to change their country of residence this year, exceeding the previous year's record of 120,000, according to UK-based consultants Henley & Partners.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue, known by its Greek acronym AADE, demands that its inspectors bring in revenue amounting to five times the cost of inspections. AADE Governor George Pitsilis notes that, while the collection of fines for tax code violations has improved, still only a small percentage of the attested fines is collected.

After a record tax haul in 2024, the Ministry of Finance is preparing for yet another all-time high, around €65-66 billion or even higher, in 2025.

The draft 2025 budget will predict tax receipts rising by at least €2 billion. And this time the extra haul will come from income taxes, not value-added tax or special consumption taxes.

The government has decided to further lighten the burden of social security contributions on both employers and employees by 1 percentage point of salaries, but has not yet decided exactly how.

A draft law that abolishes the Stamp Duty on more than 600 transactions and introduces a Digital Transaction Fee for transactions where the related charge remains, explicitly defined in the law, has been put up for public consultation until Thursday, August 22, 2024, at 11:00 PM.

The main changes include the following:

A new era is dawning for taxpayers’ relations with the Inland Revenue following the organizational transformation of the tax administration, which is being “run” by the ADEA and which puts an end to the DOUs replaced by the KEFODE, the KEFOK, the KEBIS, and the YFIs.

A fresh boost to the tax and control of cryptocurrencies is being sought by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. The ministry’s special task force that had been tasked since February to draft the new framework is being abolished, on the grounds that its remit needs to be changed.

Tax cuts for those who choose to own homes for long-term rentals, and tax increases for those who more intensively exploit their property with Airbnb-type leases, are bringing pressure to bear on the government for measures to bring down rents.

As of last Thursday, Greek restaurants and similar establishments are required to use new "smart" cash registers.

These devices automatically report sales and table orders to the tax authorities, even before the bills are paid, in an effort to curb tax evasion. The system records all orders and prevents transactions from being erased, eliminating the problem of fraudulent receipts.

Starting this week, the tax bills of some 735,000 self-employed professionals under the new taxation system will be putunder scrutiny. For the government, the issue is not purely economic but also political.