The process of submitting this year’s tax returns has reached its final stage, as the deadline ends on Friday, based on the calendar set by the Ministry of Economy and National Finance.
Accountants are still pushing for an extension, arguing that too many errors, even in pre-filled returns, make it difficult to complete the process. until July 26th.
The ministry has so far not even opened its doors to a small extension of the deadline for filing tax returns. Referring to the issuance of tax returns, the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis, in an interview with NEA, announced that from next year the goal is for tax returns to start in March and be completed in June. “However, the competent authorities should have submitted the necessary documents within the first two months, otherwise there will be heavy penalties for them.”
Legislation is coming
The specific issue was discussed at the Minister’s meeting with the Board of the Greek Chamber of Commerce in the previous days. The main objective is that after the completion of this year’s declaration submission process, there will be a legislative regulation that provides for:
- strict schedule strict schedule for filing tax returns, with a clear start-end date, from March 1 to June 30 of each year
- the necessary instructions will have been given, there will be no delays and the online platform will be fully operational without any technical problems.\
- Responsibilities will be assigned for any errors or delays due to each responsible body, public or private.
To date, the number of tax returns filed is close to 5.5 million, out of a total of around 6.5 million that should have completed their respective process by Friday. In other words, 1 million returns should be filed within 5 days. To reach the target, 250 thousand returns per day will be needed.
The fines
If there is no extension, taxpayers who do not submit their income tax return by Friday will be faced with fines of up to 500 euros:
- 100 euros, regardless of the result of the settlement, i.e. whether it is zero, credit or debit in the overdue declarations of individuals. If the statement is debited, a fine of 0.73% will be applied for each month of delay from the final date of payment of the tax.
- 100 euros for overdue initial declarations of individuals and legal entities that keep aplographic books, whether credit or zero, and 250 euros for initial debit declarations.
- A fine of 500 euros is applied to overdue initial declarations of individuals and legal entities that keep double-entry books, whether credit or zero, and 500 euros to initial debit declarations.