No questions for tax rebates

The state will disburse income and value-added tax rebates up to 10,000 euros without any probing, according to a set of amendments tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The stated aim of the clause is to provide the market with a quick liquidity boost. Sources say the amendment will benefit an estimated 50,000 enterprises while reducing the huge stock of outstanding tax rebates that amounts to some 1.2 billion euros. A sample of taxpayers entitled to a rebate will still be probed, the clause adds, based on tax evasion risk criteria.

The same set of amendments also includes a clause stating that the first tranche of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) for this year will be due by September 29 and the fifth and final installment by January 31, 2018.

Another amendment dictates that taxpayers’ earnings from the receipt lottery – when it starts – will be exempted from tax. This concerns the monthly draws that all users of credit and debit cards will automatically enter through transactions. The reason for the exemption is because imposing a tax on an incentive for the preservation of tax legality would defeat its purpose.

Agriculture professionals are also granted the exception of being able to submit an amendment to their tax declaration for 2016 incomes until October 31 without paying a late-submission penalty.