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Victoria Mindova

Cash registers must enter all retail outlets around the country in 2010, was explicit Finance Minister George Papakonstantinou, who officially presented the tax policy changes in Papandreou’s team. Cash registers will put in newsstands, kiosks, gas stations and lottery stations, which until now have benefited from the law and were not obliged to issue receipts. PASOK’s economic policies have the main objective of reducing the public deficit from 12.7% of GDP to 3% of GDP in 2012. The main method to achieve this goal is tightening the belts of the revenue policy of the country. Increasing income from tax revenues, optimizing the performance of inspection bodies in the tax system and transferring tax burden on the wealthier strata of society are part of the measures, which are supposed to lead the country out of the economic crisis. 

In the corporate tax annual profits of enterprises, the government provides a consistent reduction in the tax rate from 25 percent in 2009 to 20 percent without giving a timeframe for reaching the final value. For the fiscal 2010 the amount of corporation tax on annual profits falls by one percent to 24%. According to the proposal for tax laws change of the Ministry of Finance, bonuses of bank employees will be taxed with 90%. The Minister announced that the bill provides that from the beginning of 2011 all cash transactions made between private companies and government organizations with a value over three thousand euros will be made only by bank transfer. Financial transactions between private individuals and businesses worth more than €1500 will also be made by wire transfer or otherwise will be considered illegal. 

Regarding to the final decision about the association of treasury notes with an annual tax-free income, the Minister announced that 12 thousand euros will be the annual tax-free income. Six thousand of this non-taxable income, however, will be justified by proving annual expenses, ie primary accounting documents (receipts or invoices) worth six thousand euros. In annual revenue of over 12 thousand euros citizens must provide 30% of their revenue in form of receipts. For example, at an annual income of 30 thousand euro, the taxpayer must collect receipts amounting to nine thousand euros or 30% of 30 thousand euros annual taxable income. Regardless of annual income tax authorities will accept collected receipts amounting to 15 thousand euro. The transmission of accounting documents will be done in two ways: electronically and in client service KEP centers or they can be sent by mail to the relevant tax office. From 2011 tax returns will only be submitted electronically, including receipt data collected during the year.