Taxation in France

The fee for practicing a profession ("telos epitidevmatos") will be abolished in 2027 for businesses and the self-employed with invoice books ("blokaki") with up to three employers who are taxed as employees.

Greece is edging very close to both the European average and that of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in non-salary costs with the reduction of social security contributions by one percentage point that will apply from the beginning of 2025, for both private and public employees.

With targeted audits and extensive cross-checks of myDATA and data from courier companies, auditors from the Independent Public Revenue Authority identified, in the first half of 2024, more than 52 businesses that make sales online but do not declare the revenue from them, as they do not issue the relevant invoices or receipts.

In 2023, 50% of taxpayers reported an annual income of up to 7,680 euros to the tax authorities, resulting in an average tax rate of just 10.41%. Only 10% reported income over 20,842 euros, according to an analysis of data submitted by 9,017,477 taxpayers.

Particularly interesting are the figures showing that:

The high retail prices and the increased international coffee rates have forced the government not only to extend the value-added tax rate reduction to 13% but to make it permanent.

The incomes Greeks declared to the tax office last year were lower than the corresponding ones in 2008. For 2024, however, the government is anticipating a historic high in the "raw material" for the imposition of income tax.

The improvement is attributed to increased tax revenues (both direct and indirect taxes) due to rising employment along with simultaneous increases in wages and pensions

The Greek state budget recorded a primary surplus of 5.826 billion euros in the January-November period this year, up from a budget target for a surplus of 3.771 billion and a primary deficit of 1.091 billion euros recorded in the same period last year.

The Greek state budget demonstrated a primary surplus of 6.08 billion euros during the January-October period, surpassing the targeted surplus of 5.607 billion euros and marking a notable improvement from the primary deficit of 350 million euros recorded in the same period last year, as reported by the Finance Ministry in a budget execution update using an amended cash basis.

The recovery of pre-crisis levels in Greek GDP terms may now be within sight, but that is not the case for incomes declared to the tax office, which are 16 billion euros away from the historic high.