By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The Ministry of Finance is under pressure. On the one hand, the Federation of tax technicians and the economic chamber request an extension of the deadline for submitting tax returns. On the other hand, bar association which expresses its concern about the significant increase in the burden of freelancers and self-employed by presumptive method of taxation as it emerges from the process of clearing the tax returns.

“Unfortunately, the former settlement notes for the incomes of the year 2023 confirm our objections and at the same time highlight in the most categorical way the unfavorable tax treatment of self-employed professionals and scientists compared to employees” is the characteristic reference of the bar association in its announcement. And he goes even further by characterizing their unequal treatment of employees by “speaking” with examples:

An employee who is paid the minimum wage will pay tax:

-€134.66 if she has no children

-€11.66 if he has 1 child

-0 with 2 children or more

A self-employed person with the same earnings will pay based on imputed determination:

-€911.65 with 4 years of employment

-€1,342 with 9 years of employment

-€1,607 with 12 years of employment

To these must be added the 325€ of the pretense fee

In the second example the lawyers take an employee with a taxable income of €15,000. Here the tax is:

-€1,283 without children

-€1,160 with one child

-€940 with 2 children

The corresponding freelancer will be faced with a €2,325 settlement together with the pretension fee.

The lawyers are once again asking the government to abolish presumptions and adopt a fairer system. I remind you that since June 17, self-employed people have appealed to the Council of State requesting the annulment of the law which instituted the presumptive method of taxation and also of the decision of the Governor of AADE regarding the procedure for contesting the minimum annual income and the length of time for implementation of control.

However, having recorded all these data, which show a great burden, there are very few who question the new procedure and ask to be checked.

To begin with, the data shows that almost 1/2 do not fall under the new taxation system since they self-declare more than €10,920 minimum taxable income (€14,196 for those with more than 13 years of activity). As can be seen from the AADE data, in total the self-employed have submitted 288,497 tax returns so far. Of these, 154,693, i.e. 53%, are taxed presumptively, i.e. they declare an income lower than €10,920

Of these, 932, i.e. 6 out of a thousand, expressed their intention to dispute the presumptive method of taxation by filling in the codes 443-444. In order to complete the process, they should, within 60 days of the deadline for submitting tax returns, fill in the famous questionnaire about their financial situation and the living conditions of themselves and their family members.

Of these 932, only 83 – i.e. less than one in ten – have completed the process and are awaiting the audit. Nevertheless, they must pay the tax that has been cleared for them and then they will be audited.

All this does not mean, however, that there will be NO changes. First of all, the CoE may rule in favor of freelancers, in which case the government will have to comply and dismantle the applied system.

However, even if the CoE rejects their request, changes will be made as the financial staff has already emphasized. The operation of the new system will be evaluated, any injustices will be identified and attempts will be made to correct them before the submission of tax returns for this year’s incomes.