A special legislative regulation must be passed by the Parliament, as required by the Constitution – At the same time, it was decided that they are exempt from the imposition of the solidarity levy
The Council of State following an appeal by the MEP Notis Maria, it ruled that, in order for the compensation-salaries of the Greek MEPs from the European Parliament to be taxed by the Greek State, a special legislative regulation must be passed by the Parliament, as required by the Constitution, while at the same time it was ruled that are exempt from the imposition of the solidarity levy.
The Legal Council of the State with its opinion (70/2021) ruled that the compensation-salary of MEPs from the European Parliament constitutes income from hired services of foreign origin and is subject to income tax and a special solidarity levy. This opinion was accepted by the Independent Public Revenue Authority (A.A.D.E.).
Following this, Mr. Marias was asked to submit an overdue amending statement for the amounts of compensation – wages for the tax years 2016-2021.
Subsequently, the MEP appealed to the Council of State arguing that the decision of the AADE constitutes a falsely interpreted circular and imposes a tax burden, without there being a special legislative provision and without having been published in the Government Gazette.
The 2nd Section of the Council of Ministers with its decision No. 431/2023 (chairman, vice-chairman Michalis Pikramenos and rapporteur, State Councilor Vassiliki Moschou) vindicated Mr. Maria.
The Councilors of State, after interpreting the Constitution, the regulation of the European Parliament, the European and Greek legislation, decided that the MEPs’ compensation was not legally included in income tax, as income from salaried work with an act of the administrator of AADE not published in the F.E.K. and canceled it for reasons of legality, but also of legal certainty.
In more detail, among others, it is mentioned in the decision of the SC that “for this purpose, the Greek legislator should subject this compensation to income tax and a special solidarity levy based on the national legislation, exercising it according to article 12 paragraph 3 of the decision 2005/684 /EC discretion granted to him, must, in accordance with the principles of the legality and certainty of the tax, but also of the clarity and predictable application of the regulations established from time to time, such as in particular those with which taxes, fees, contributions, etc. are imposed, respecting, at the same time, the imperative of article 78 par. 2 of the Constitution to establish a new, clear, special provision of a formal law, included in the Income Tax Code, with which it will either subject the compensation in question (and the transitional one) directly to the provisions on taxation of salaried services or indirectly considering it by law as income from salaried service”.
Finally, the SC ruled that the compensation of the Greek MEP is not even subject to the special solidarity contribution of natural persons.
Source: Skai
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