Mbig twists coming from January 1, 2025 for one million freelancers and businesses, with the exclusive use of the data in myDATA.

The main difference compared to what we knew until now is that now the taxation and completion of the VAT returns will be based exclusively on the data (income and expenses) transmitted to myDATA, with zero possibility of deviations.

This development closes yet another window of tax evasion, and it is estimated that it can enable the Ministry of National Economy and Finance to exercise a more pro-people tax policy, while at the same time it can release funds for the exercise of social policy.

At the same time, from next year, the system of pre-filled income tax returns for employees and pensioners is expected to be expanded. For the rest, according to the plan, additional codes will be locked, so that there is no possibility of falsifying them for one’s own benefit.

What changes from next year:

The landscape changes completely from 2025 with electronic invoicing, since the Tax Office will no longer accept and recognize any other document for purchases and sales, beyond those that have been transmitted to the myDATA electronic platform.

Thus, they cease to exist the last “windows” of deviations in revenues and expenses in relation to the corresponding data in the digital books. This will result in your VAT and income returns being pre-populated, with ‘locked’ codes, meaning tax will be calculated automatically.

What does this mean in practice? For a large number of professionals and businesses, through the elimination of the permissible limits of deviation, the “weapon” of excessive expenses (which were not accompanied by the corresponding documents) is removed, leading to a reduction of the final tax burden.

Transition period until the end of the year:

  • From July 1st to September 30th, the margin for deviations narrows to 10% for revenue data and 20% for expenses.
  • From October 1 to December 31, 2024, the discrepancies in revenue data are zeroed out, while in the data of expenses there will be a possibility for additional expenses at a rate of 5%.

Marginal corrections for freelancers:

It is estimated that a “surgical” type of intervention will be added to the above change, the outline of which will be announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the TIF and will concern the presumptive way of taxation of the 730,000 freelancers, with the aim of “a fairer system”, as it has he declared himself.

Without tipping over the basic core of the imputed system calculation of the minimum taxable income, the corrections planned by the financial staff will focus on the turnover criterion, on the basis of which the presumptive income is increased, as well as on the payroll cost criterion, which, especially for sole proprietorships employing staff with many years employment, significantly increases imputed income.

It is also looking at taking family income into account to cover the presumptive amount and making improvements to the process for challenging the minimum presumptive income, as fear of scrutiny discourages the self-employed from claiming a tax cut.

Finally, on the table is the scenario for reducing the burden from the adjustment of the minimum wage, which is the basis for calculating the minimum presumptive income.

The increase of minimum wage from 780 to 830 euros raises the minimum presumptive taxable income from 10,920 euros in 2023 to 11,620 euros in 2024.