Galery

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There will be a thriller until the last moment on the issue of the extension of the payment of the road tax which 1 million Greeks have not paid yet.

Yesterday, the political leadership of the Ministry of Finance was clear that this year there will be no extension, and that those who do not pay by today at noon, will be punished with a fine which will double their liabilities.

Yesterday alone, via bank transfers or in local tax authorities, the tax was paid by 300,000 people and the total number of those who have already paid is 4.5 million of the 5.5 million car owners. The number of people who have settled the matter includes those 100,000 who brought the registration plates of their cars to the traffic police yesterday because of inability to pay the tax. Since the beginning of November, another 90,000 cars have been removed from circulation.

Not extending the deadline is a double headed sword at a time when the Ministry of Finance is trying to achieve as great a surplus as possible. This is so because revenues from the tax are included in the revenues for 2013, even if it is collected at the beginning of 2014, while overdue liabilities with a fine are recorded in next year revenues.

Besides the road tax, yesterday, tax authorities received numerous citizens who were in a hurry to pay the contribution for the income tax, contributions for the real estate tax for the past three years or to get a new tax number. The deadline for all such payments is today. In some cases, people had to wait in line for more than 4 hours.

Tax authorities will be closed to the public on 2 January and 3 January. Therefore, citizens should either queue today in the offices or settle their liabilities after 6 January.

The absolute "master"

172 new responsibilities have been added to the "portfolio" of the Secretary General on public revenues Harris Theoharis, including the management of the entire tax system of the state.

The Secretary General will be able to determine the prepayment of the tax on individuals and legal entities, solidarity contribution and professional tax. He will also define in detail the electronic types of tax returns and additional applications, the dates of filing, deadlines and the procedure of taxation of income and return of overpaid taxes, as well as documents required for return of wrongfully withheld amounts. He will also determine the conditions for the provision of information about the property against debtors to the treasury.

With the new responsibilities, he will also determine the procedures for payment of liabilities to the state, which can be paid in cash, verification procedures of debtors' cheques, as well as liabilities to be paid only by cheques.

As for companies, besides the prepayment of the tax, he will be able to determine the conditions for the granting of a licence of tax warehouse and the placing of goods under a particular customs procedure.