By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The Ministry of Finance gave the “late movers” a grace period until Monday, September 4, so that they could submit their tax returns on time.

The truth is that in the last 48 hours, there was a small “loss” on the AADE platform, as even at five, approximately 280,000 taxpayers pressed the send button in order to be legal.

But many faced problems as the system was overloaded and now they will have 3 more 24 hours to send the E1 without any charge.

Those who miss this deadline risk fines of up to €500, since in order to avoid the fine, one of the following conditions must be met:

The tax resulting from the overdue initial or amending declaration does not exceed €100

With the overdue initial or amending declaration, there is no change in the taxable material, just some errors or omissions that have to do with the details of the taxpayer or his protected members are corrected.

Without any charge and until the end of the year, those who collected in 2022 retrospectively, regardless of the year to which they refer, can submit amending tax returns and pay the additional tax in one lump sum until the end of January. Without charges and the declarations of the incomes of taxpayers who died in 2022.

However, if the overdue declaration (initial or amending) results in a tax greater than €100, then it is accompanied by the following fines:

  • €100 if the taxpayer is not self-employed or an entrepreneur
  • €250 if the taxpayer is self-employed or an entrepreneur and keeps simple books
  • €500 if the taxpayer is self-employed or an entrepreneur and keeps double-entry books.

At the same time, however, the tax increases that have been imputed will also run.

According to the Ministry of Finance, 82,000 more natural persons submitted tax returns this year compared to last year (6.48 million against 6.4 million) by the deadline, which, according to Karageorgi Serbia, confirms the wider positive trend towards tax compliance. The image is also positive for businesses as this year an additional 38,000 declarations were submitted compared to the corresponding period last year.

Those who submit their statements in September should pay the first 2 installments by 9/4 and the third normally at the end of the month. Taxpayers who submitted their tax returns in August paid a double first installment without the possibility of the 3% discount in the case of a one-off tax payment, which was enjoyed only by those who completed E1 by the end of July.

The processing of the data shows that of the 6.48 million tax returns, about half, 48%, are zero. 1/3 are debtors with an average tax of €1538 from €1226 last year. The total tax assessed exceeded €3.5 billion. 16% of the statements are credit with an average tax refund of €411.

There are 6 more months until February 2024 to pay the income tax.