Business fee waived for hirings

Companies expanding their staff will be exempt from the levy for practicing a profession

Businesses that have increased their staff for at least three months in 2022 will this year be exempt from the business tax known as the fee for practicing a profession (“telos epitidevmatos”).

No such fee will be imposed on these businesses during the settlement of the tax statement that will be submitted in 2023 (concerning 2022 incomes), provided that their gross income does not exceed 2 million euros per year, and that they increased the average annual number of full-time employees, at least for three months on an annual basis.

The exemption from the fee concerns the year in which the increase in employment takes place. That is, in the event that a company proceeded on October 1, 2022 to hire an employee with full-time status for a period of at least three months, until December 31, 2022, then for the year 2022 the company will be exempt from the business fee.

The amounts of the trade fee for professionals, traders and businesses that apply today range from €650 to €1,000 per year.

In case of interruption of the activity within a financial year the fee is imposed according to the months of operation of the business or the practice of the profession.

Nowadays the state has revenues of approximately €400 million from the telos epitidevmatos, while thousands of professionals and businesses are already exempt from it. This category includes, among others: Commercial enterprises and freelancers operating in villages with a population of up to 500 inhabitants and on islands with fewer than 100 inhabitants, unless they are tourism destinations; individual commercial enterprises and freelancers, for the first five years after they first start operating; those with a disability equal to or greater than 80%; traders with up to three years left till their retirement; and some farmers as well as fishermen, who operate fishing vessels up to 12 meters. For artists affected by the pandemic, the fee is reduced by 40% over the next three years.