The year of the self-employed
Tax statement submission from end-May, with many professionals set to collect rebates
The submission process for this year’s income tax declarations will apparently be delayed, following changes the Finance Ministry has introduced due to the health crisis.
Sources from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue say the Taxisnet online platform is expected to open at the end of May, as the system has not yet incorporated the recent changes that provide for the lenient treatment of taxpayers hurt by the pandemic crisis and for the reduction of the corporate tax deposit for the self-employed and corporations.
They add that this is a complex procedure, noting that it is not easy to trace the taxpayers who by law are exempt this year from the mechanisms intended to contain tax evasion. It will obviously be even more difficult to process the tax statements of those taxpayers given the necessity for amendments to the calculating methods.
Nevertheless the delays are not going to change the deadlines for the submission of tax declarations. Already the ministry has allowed for two options, submission by end-July or by end-August. In both cases the tax due will have to be paid in up to eight monthly installments, but taxpayers that opt to upload their declarations in
August will have to pay a double tranche at the end of that month. Taxpayers who pay all their dues in a lump sum will enjoy an increased 3% discount this year.
The ones who rush to submit their declarations this year will be the self-employed, probably for the first time, as most of them will not only have to pay no extra tax but will also be entitled to rebates.
The measure whereby taxpayers have to show they have spent a minimum of 30% of their income using electronic payments will be suspended for the 2020 incomes of those harmed by the pandemic as well as for people aged 60 or over according to the ministry’s new regulation.
Meanwhile the system of assets used to establish taxpayers’ real incomes (“tekmiria”) will be suspended for this year for people proven to have been hurt by the pandemic lockdowns.