By Vangelis Dourakis

The list of tax reliefs that have already been launched and will be in effect within 2025 was published by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. This includes 18 tax reduction interventions and 7 income support measures, but there are no actions for which the final decisions will be made within the first half of the new year. So there are some “hidden papers” that depending on the progress of the budget, the Government will “show” them in the fall.

In detail, as recorded in the relevant list, 18 tax reductions and 7 income support measures will be applied in 2025, which as pointed out by MINISTERcome as a continuation of the interventions implemented since 2019 with the abolition or reduction of a total of over 70 taxes.

Which ones tax breaks were activated from the beginning of the year

For example, for the new year it comes into force:

  • The reduction by 1 additional unit of insurance contributions. Cumulatively, their reduction since 2019 amounts to 5.4 percentage points (from 40.56% to 35.16%).
  • The abolition of the pre-employment tax for all natural persons (freelancers, self-employed as well as workers who are paid with a “block”).
  • The exemption from participation in the pharmaceutical expenditure of an additional 132,000 low-pensioners who meet the same income criteria as the former EKAS beneficiaries.
  • The income tax exemption for 3 years of closed houses up to 120 m2 that will be rented until 31 December 2025 with leases of at least three years and which were previously declared vacant or available for short-term rental.
  • Exemption from insurance premium tax (15%) health contracts for children up to 18 years old. In the case of a family or group contract, the tax is reduced in proportion to the number of minor members it covers.
  • The double reduction of ENFIA (from 10% to 20%) for residences of natural persons, with a taxable value of up to 500,000 euros, that are insured for natural disasters (fire, earthquake, flood).
  • The abolition of the fixed telephony fee (5%) for optical fiber connections (≥100 Mbps).

What new tax interventions is the Ministry of Finance preparing?

But the list of 2025 tax cuts does not end here. The competent Ministry also has some “hidden papers” in its hands, as there are new interventions on the table that this time will concern income taxation, but also presumptions.

The budget is overperforming and feeding the available fiscal space for this MOE near the end of the first quarter of 2025 is preparing to open debate on new tax cuts, which it plans to phase in starting next fall.

The purpose is to start a round of negotiations with Commission agents for changes in the scale of taxpayers and the reduction of living standards.

Information wants the changes in the income tax rates to favor mainly those with earnings from 20,000 to 50,000 euros, a portion of taxpayers that has been left out of any support given during the crises caused by the pandemic and then the energy crisis that arose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The other intervention on the table concerns the gradual reduction of subsistence allowances by 30%.

The application of this measure has two basic conditions:

  • The first is to replace the horizontal application of the presumptions with denser and more effective controls, which must yield the tax revenues themselves. This is ensured by the full implementation of My Data and the increase in electronic transactions.
  • The second is to reduce tax evasion to save resources to replace the loss of revenue that will result from a future repeal of the presumption measure.