ATHENS:Tax authorities reserve the right to inspect not only the assets and revenues that the taxpayer or business is declaring in this current instance, but their property and income in any given financial year.
Tax authorities reserve the right to inspect not only the assets and revenues that the taxpayer or business is declaring in this current instance, but their property and income in any given financial year.
The Finance Ministry is offering those who have concealed incomes from the state – evading the payment of taxes, levies and/or charges – one last chance to come clean regarding taxable revenues or assets from previous years. If they do so voluntarily, the process will entail lower taxes and fines compared to those dictated by legislation if the tax authorities uncover uncover a violation during inspections.
The ministry’s draft law concerns the declaration of hidden taxable income or assets from previous financial years that resulted in evasion of income tax, value-added tax, property transfer tax, property taxes and/or the solidarity levy.
Taxpayers or enterprises that declare what they have concealed must pay the resulting tax within 30 days or enter a program whereby payments are made in 12 or 24 installments. They must also be aware that the tax authorities reserve the right to inspect not only the assets and revenues being declared, but their property and income in any given financial year.
The bill provides for the payment of an amount in tax starting from 30 percent of the hidden taxable income, or in the case of an asset, 30 percent of its value, and reaching up to 60 percent, depending on the case.
Taxpayers who have submitted inaccurate or incomplete declarations have until May 31, 2017 to correct or complete them regardless of whether there is tax to pay following its processing. This concerns all declaration obligations up to September 30, 2016. Declarations can be made electronically or in handwriting and will be followed by the calculation of the tax due plus the penalty for overdue submission and the interest, unless there is no tax obligation stemming from the new declaration.
For declarations submitted up to March 31, the penalty will be an 8 percent addition to the tax due. For those submitted between April 1 and the May 31 deadline, the penalty will be 10 percent of the tax due. This will be adjusted depending on the number of years that have lapsed since the declaration of assets or incomes was due, with a maximum of 25 percent for declarations more than 15 years late.
