Taxation in the United Kingdom

The new objective values (property rates used for tax purposes) to be announced in mid-June will only be the starter for property owners, as it is expected that the main course will be particularly hard to digest when it comes in 2019.

The exhaustion of Greeks' taxpaying capacity and the difficulties in meeting day-to-day expenses are leading to more and more citizens waiving inheritances, especially when they concern real estate assets.

The French-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFHEL) is organizing a round-table discussion in Athens, titled "Recent Developments in Issues of Corporate Taxation and Procedures," to take place on Wednesday, March 28.

The keynote speaker will be the head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, Giorgos Pitsilis.

Spouses will now be able to submit separate income tax declarations if they so wish, following a verdict by the Council of State, and will then be able to receive separate tax clearance documents too.

Property transactions will become less costly as of April, as far as the tax load is concerned, in areas where "objective values" - property rates used for tax purposes - are reduced. The Finance Ministry is planning to make no changes to all tax rates related to sales, parental concessions, donations and inheritance.

Corporate taxation in Greece is burdensome and anti-competitive, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) says in a report published on Thursday, stressing that Greek taxes also fail to draw revenues above the average rate of other European countries that as a rule have lower corporate taxation.

Just days before it was set to expire at the end of 2017, the suspension period of the application of the provisions regarding the capital gains tax during the transfer of ownership rights of real estate was extended to end-2018.

The left-led government's blase response to criticism of its overtaxation of the middle class can be explained by the fact that it actually only affects a relatively small section of the population: From a total of about 8.8 million taxpayers, 80 percent, or 7.1 million, pay from zero to 100 euros per month in taxes.

Instead of raising state revenues, as was intended, the increased demands on self-employed professionals in terms of taxes and social security contributions have resulted in increased tax evasion, confirming the Finance Ministry's worst fears.

More than 62,000 Greeks have paid some 250 million euros in taxes as part of a so-called voluntary scheme to declare taxable income and wealth that was previously hidden.