Tax

Penalties for citizens and business owners who fail to pay taxes on time have been reduced.

This is envisaged in the changes to the Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration.

Bulgaria's ran a consolidated budget deficit of BGN 406.4 M equivalent to 0.5% of the projected 2015 GDP at the end of November, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

Compared with end-November 2014, the budget gap has improved by 1.4 percentage points. The consolidated budget deficit at the end of November last year was BGN 1.6 B, which was equivalent to 1.9% of GDP.

Apple has agreed to pay Italy 318 million euros ($348 million) to settle a tax dispute after the US tech giant was investigated for suspected fraud, the country's tax agency said Dec. 29.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced 11 legislative actions for the near future during his meeting with the cabinet of ministers on Wednesday.

Taxpayers are rushing to meet their obligations on the last few days of 2015 so as not to start the new year with debts and tax fines. Huge lines are noted at tax offices around the country in a frantic rush to tie up loose ends.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked for the government to speed up its work while speaking on Wednesday at the Cabinet meeting, the last for 2015, and noted that “delays can’t be excused”.

11 government actions were announced that will be implemented over the coming period. These include:

* draft laws on social security issues

* the creation  of a development bank

Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis said that entrepreneurship combined with high-quality manpower, strengthened exports and stable taxation are the main points of the new sustainable growth model. Speaking to daily newspaper Avgi on Sunday, he announced that the new growth program will set forth a strategy through which the country will move towards a positive course.

Sources from the Ministry of Finance state that there is no issue of changing the 2015 joint real estate ownership tax (ENFIA).  The Council of State officially publihed a ruling that obliges the government to issue a ministerial decree to revise the tax valuations of real estate throughout Greece according to which taxes and other payments are calculated and backdated to May 21, 2015.

The Plenary Council of the State ordered the change of objective property values so that these are based on actual commercial prices in 2015, causing a mad scramble by the government to avoid returning taxes or result in the state losing  2.65 billion euros from the single property tax (ENFIA) in 2016.

Tax authority check wealthy Romanians | Photo: Rl.ro

Romania's tax administration, ANAF, is checking the assets of 30 ultra-wealthy Romanians from an initial group of people with personal assets of over 20 million euro, according to information BIRN has obtained.