Market pass: Everything we need to know in the questions and answers of the Minister of Finance

From February 2023 and for six months (until July 2023) a 10% subsidy is given on the purchases of households that meet the inclusion criteria, in supermarkets and other businesses active in the retail food trade (bakeries, mini-markets, fruit shops, butchers) , fish shops, dairy shops, etc.).

Reinforcement height

The aid amounts to 10% of the amount of purchases of all kinds of items from stores active in the food retail trade and up to the following limits which are formed according to the composition of the household.

The aid is given at the household level.

Spouses or members with a cohabitation agreement, their dependent children, other dependent members and guest members are taken as members of the household.

The monthly limit of purchases per household on which it receives the 10% aid amounts to 220 euros for a single-member household, increasing by 100 euros for each additional member of the household and up to 1000 euros of purchases.

Monthly purchase limit and aid amount, examples:

• Single-member household: 220 euros monthly purchases, 22 euros monthly aid
• Couple without children: 320 euros monthly purchases, 32 euros monthly aid
• Single-parent family with one dependent child: 320 euros monthly purchases, 32 euros monthly support
• Single-parent family with two dependent children: 420 euros monthly purchases, 42 euros monthly support
• Couple with a dependent child: 420 euros monthly purchases, 42 euros monthly aid
• Couple with two dependent children: 520 euros monthly purchases, 52 euros monthly aid
• Couple with three dependent children: 620 euros monthly purchases, 62 euros monthly support
• Couple with four dependent children: 720 euros monthly purchases, 72 euros monthly support

Above amounts are credited monthly to a digital debit card that can only be used in food retail stores.

In the event that the beneficiary chooses to deposit into a bank account, the amounts are paid quarterly and the amount of the aid amounts to 80% of the above amounts.

Beneficiaries and inclusion criteria

Beneficiaries of the aid are natural persons who are single or married or widowed or persons who have entered into a cohabitation agreement or are separated or divorced. Especially, for married people or persons who have entered into a cohabitation agreement, the beneficiary is the person obliged to submit the income tax return according to article 67 of Law 4172/2013 or one of the two in case of submission of a separate return.

Natural persons are entitled to aid if they meet the following criteria:

Their annual total family income, regardless of its source, real and presumed, amounts to up to 16,000 euros for an unmarried debtor or a widowed or separated debtor and 24,000 euros for a married debtor or the married parties or the parties to the cohabitation agreement that submit separate tax return based on sub. bb’ of paragraph f of paragraph 4 of article 67 of Law 4172/2013 (judicial support or bankruptcy), or married couples who submit a tax return based on paragraph b of paragraph 4 of Article 67 of Law 4172 /2013 or natural persons who have entered into a cohabitation agreement and have submitted a joint tax return without children, which is increased by 5,000 euros for each dependent child, other dependent member and guest member of the household.

Likewise, for a single-parent family, the aforementioned income amounts to up to 24,000 euros, which is increased by 5,000 euros for each dependent child, other dependent member and guest member after the first. The annual total family income does not include that which is cumulatively exempt from income tax.

In order to determine the family status, the number of dependent children, other dependent members and guest members, as well as the income criteria, the data of the Personal Income Tax Return, of the tax year 2021, as it has been prepared on December 31, 2022, are used. If the spouses or cohabiting parties submit a separate declaration, the greater of the number of children declared in one of the two (2) declarations is taken.

The total value of the real estate, as it results from the act of administrative determination EN.F.I.A. of the year 2022, debtor, spouse or party to a cohabitation agreement and dependent, according to Law 4172/2013, children, listed in the income tax return for the tax year 2021, not to exceed the amount of 250,000 euros for unmarried, debtors in widowhood or estranged status and the amount of 400,000 euros for married or cohabiting couples and single-parent families.

The following are excluded from the granting of aid:

a) Natural persons, who are declared in the Personal Income Tax Declaration as dependent members of the debtor according to article 11 of Law 4172/2013.

b) Natural persons, who declare in the Personal Income Tax Declaration that they are hosted.

c) Natural persons subject to luxury living tax.

d) Tax residents abroad.

e) Natural persons who have not definitively submitted their income tax return for tax year 2021 until December 31, 2022.

To determine the above exemptions, the data of the Personal Income Tax return of the tax year 2021, as it has been prepared on December 31, 2022, and other sources are used.

Procedure for granting and using the aid

The beneficiary natural person (the person liable to submit the income tax return or one of the two spouses/members in case of submitting a separate return) enters the relevant electronic platform at gov.gr, with the taxisnet codes, where eligibility is certified and the monthly payment is informed amount of aid.

Then he can choose to use a digital debit card or receive the aid in a bank account.

In case of receiving the aid in a bank account, he receives 80% of the amount of the aid, on a quarterly basis and can use the amount as he wishes.

In case of using a digital debit card, the full amount of the aid is credited on a monthly basis and in particular the first credit is made before the end of February 2023 and then within the first week of each month.

The amount of money credited to the digital debit card can be used by the beneficiary to make purchases from businesses operating in the food retail sector and bearing, in particular, the following Merchant Category Codes (MCC):

Calculation of costs/beneficiaries

• The income criteria are estimated to be met by 83% of households and the property criteria by 95% of households. Potential beneficiaries are estimated at around 3.2 million households (out of 4.1 million households) with around 8.5 million members (out of 10.4 million population).
• The average purchase limit is estimated at approximately 380 euros and concerns purchases of approximately 1.2 billion euros per month.
• The fiscal cost for the six months, under the assumption that about half of the households will choose to use a debit digital debit card amounts to about 650 million euros.
• The entire cost will be covered by the reserve of the Budget for combating the energy crisis.

Questions and answers

1. How do the income thresholds for receiving the aid differ depending on the composition of the household?

Beneficiaries are households where their annual total family income is up to 16,000 euros for single-member households and 24,000 euros for married couples or parties to a cohabitation agreement, which is increased by 5,000 euros for each child, other dependent member and guest member of the household, according to form E1 of the tax return.

Therefore, if the person liable to submit a tax return is married with two dependent children and also has a third, older child who is not considered a dependent but hosts him, then the members of the household are considered as five and both the income limits and the amount of the aid expand accordingly.

Also, if the above debtor declares the grandfather as a dependent member, then the members of the household are considered as six.

If the grandfather is not a dependent member of the son and is not hosted by the son, he is entitled to the benefit as a separate household.

2. Do the income limits refer to gross or net income?

The income limit is calculated on the taxable income. That is, the income after insurance contributions and before taxes (as is also the case with the income limits of the heating allowance).

3. How is the aid received and how is it used?

The aid is received following an application on the relevant electronic platform at gov.gr, which will be available after mid-February 2023. During the application, the beneficiary will be informed if he is a beneficiary, the monthly amount of aid depending on the composition of the household and will choose whether wants to receive the aid in the form of a digital debit card or to the bank account he will declare.

In case of receiving the aid in a bank account, he receives 80% of the amount of the aid, on a quarterly basis (one at the end of February and one at the end of May) and can use the amount as he wishes.

In case of using a digital debit card, the full amount of the aid is credited on a monthly basis and in particular the first credit is made before the end of February 2023 and then within the first week of each month.

4. In what kind of stores can the digital debit card be used?

The amount of money credited to the digital debit card can be used by the beneficiary to make purchases of any kind from businesses active in the food retail sector. These include supermarkets, bakeries, mini-markets, fruit shops, butchers, fish shops, dairy shops and in general any business that has the code (MCC) corresponding to the relevant food retail trade codes in the POS device.

These include food vendors in street markets.

It is noted that the digital card can be used to purchase all items sold by the above shops.

If the aid is received in the bank account there is no restriction as to where the aid can be used.

5. How does the digital debit card work?

The card works through the user’s mobile at the POS machines of the stores. Like the plastic cards, the beneficiary can choose to use the entire amount on the card or part of the amount in one purchase and pay the rest by any other means, in accordance with what was applicable to the fuel pass.

In case the amount on the card is not exhausted within the month, the balance is transferred and can be used in the following months, together with the additional amounts credited each month.

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