Tax

The tax authorities are after those who did not submitted tax return in previous years.

Emphasis is being placed on 2018 incomes that should have been declared in 2019.

Tax Services are being enriched with new procedures, where taxpayers are now being served for their vehicles, according to a decision by the governor of the Independent Authority for Public Revenues, Giorgos Pitsilis.

Retail group Fourlis seeks to expand its presence in the Balkans and Cyprus with an agreement it reached with US multinational sportswear and footwear company Foot Locker. 

According to CEO Vassilis Fourlis, the Foot Locker deal is a strategic move that aims to more than double sales over the next 3-5 deals and will more than double profits. 

Bulgaria has the lowest excise tax on cigarettes in the European Union, with a rate of just 1.92 euros per pack of 20 cigarettes. This contrasts sharply with Ireland, where the highest excise duty is imposed at 9.92 euros per pack, followed by the Netherlands at 7.66 euros and France at 7.45 euros.

Electronic payments and monitoring methods have boosted the collection of value-added tax (VAT), Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said Tuesday.

Hatzidakis said in an interview to Skai Radio that VAT revenue rose 10.3% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

The Ministry of Finance is looking at this year's income tax submissions to see what can be done to further automate the process.

The Ministry of Finance and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) plan greater discounts and the unlocking of bank accounts for those taxpayers who pay their taxes or their past debts on time or earlier.

The changes will affect income declarations filed next year.

Hotel owners object strongly to a demand by municipalities to hike the occupancy tax to 2% of turnover from the current 0.5%.

They that it would hurt business, especially in smaller hotels.

The tax would help municipalities with infrastructure maintenance.

It had been cut from 2% to 0.5% in 2009 and, currently, the government gets part of it. 

Another method of tax evasion – and an extensive one at that – through abusive use of an e-commerce platform, has been identified by auditors of the Independent Public Revenue Authority.

With targeted audits and extensive cross-checks of myDATA and data from courier companies, auditors from the Independent Public Revenue Authority identified, in the first half of 2024, more than 52 businesses that make sales online but do not declare the revenue from them, as they do not issue the relevant invoices or receipts.