Greeks reluctant to file their tax statements

Online income tax declarations are fewer at this point compared to last year by some 300,000, according to the latest data from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue.

Taxpayers seem to be sticking to the tradition of filing their tax statements near the deadline, but this year they appear particularly inclined to delay their submission in expectation of an extension being granted to the June 30 deadline.

The data show that until Monday 2,588,596 declarations were submitted, compared to 2,861,4512 on the same day last year. Out of those processed there are 36.89 percent which entail extra tax payment (on top of the tax deducted from their incomes) amounting to 811.32 million euros.

Given the figures to date it is quite likely that the Finance Ministry will decide to extend the sate of submission, as it has done in all previous years. Despite the insistence...