By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

It is put up for public consultation within the weeks the bill of the Ministry of Finance to combat tax evasion. The government’s goal is to make it the law of the land before the time changes.

Kostis Hatzidakis reiterated over the weekend that the provisions of the bill are not “written” in stone and appeared open to corrective moves which will not, however, overturn the core of the philosophy of legislative regulation.

More specifically the Ministry of Finance appears willing to increase the number of exemptionsfrom the presumptive taxation of the self-employed – expansion of militancy was characterized by the Deputy Minister of Finance Haris Theocharis – but the core of the thinking of the Ministry of Finance will not change. A self-employed person cannot declare an annual income below the minimum wage, i.e. €10,920.

Currently in the list of exceptions are:

  • Young professionals up to 3 years (from 3 years onwards the discounts start to fade until zero from the 6th year)
  • Those operating in villages with up to 500 inhabitants or islands with up to 3,000
  • When there is a disability of more than 80%
  • Those serving their military service
  • Imprisoned
  • Patients
  • Those who live with first-degree relatives and therefore have reduced living expenses since they contribute to the support of their relatives
  • Those who prove that due to force majeure they did not have the income attributed to them

According to the first information an age criterion of 65 years is consideredif the freelancer has been active for the last 10 years as well as provision for pregnant women. Also under consideration is the increase in imputed income resulting from wage costs and turnover.

In addition, it will be clarified in the bill that working retirees will be excluded from the new way of taxing young professionals.

The bill also provides for a series of regulations such as:

  1. The POS-Cash Machine interface until February 29, 2024
  2. The extension of the mandatory possession of POS to a number of retail sectors such as taxis and kiosks
  3. Electronic invoices
  4. The mandatory purchase and sale of real estate through bank means of payment
  5. The activation of the digital consignment note in transport
  6. The increase of the fine for cash transactions over €500 to double the transaction value
  7. Interventions for short-term rental
  8. The granting of welfare benefits via debit card
  9. The closure of fuel smugglers’ businesses

The goal of the Ministry of Finance with the bill is to generate €3 billion in revenue by 2026 annually, part of which will be directed to the financing of Health and Education, while the rest will finance the second round of tax reductions that the government is working on.