Value-added tax

The Greek government is expected to pass the budget, on Saturday’s parliamentary session, which provides for an additional 1.1 billion euros in taxes and 1.5 billion in pension and spending cuts for 2017. The government is seeking to collect a total of 7 billion Euros by the end of the year in an effort to maintain its positive GDP surplus figures recorded over the past 11 months.

Chinese shipping giant Cosco and Trans-it, a Copenhagen-based logistics and transport provider, announced on Monday they are joining forces to offer Greek shipowners VAT-free spare parts delivery.

The Turkish government is set to revise the Central Bank's schedule for its rate policy meetings from a monthly basis to at least eight times a year, in a new draft law submitted to the parliament on Nov. 24, as reported by Reuters.   

Half of the annual income of every Bulgarian is returned to the treasury in the form of personal tax burden, showed estimates of the economists at the Institute for Market Economy.

The tax burden of every working Bulgarian reaches up to 45% of his/her income and when municipal taxes and fees are added, it becomes nearly 50%.

Every year the Greek state misses out on tax revenues of at least 800 million euros due to the tax hikes it has imposed on cigarettes. With the new increases scheduled from 2017, it runs the risk of missing out on even more much-needed cash, as the shock of the hikes is likely to lead to a massive swing towards illegal tobacco products.

A total of 10 price offers have been offered for the design and construction of 9.3 km of the Hemus highway - the section between Yablanitsa and Boaza.

The cheapest offer is for BGN 5.4 M/km.

The indicative value of the public procurement offer is BGN 80 M, VAT excluded, reported the road agency.

Bulgarian and Romanian tax authorities agreed оn making inspections of the high risk goods at the border between the two countries, during a meeting in Veliko Turnovo, on 16 November, according to the National Revenue Agency.

The tax reform proposed by Croatia's centre-right government, which will lower income taxes for ordinary people and companies in order to trigger spending and economic growth, "will benefit all", economic analyst Velimir Sonje told BIRN.

A European Commission survey revealed that the tax burden of Greek citizens rose from 64 billion Euros in 2015 to 65.7 billion Euros in 2016.

In a report presented by Ernst & Young (EY) executive Stefanos Mitsios yesterday during the 8th Tax Forum organized in Thessaloniki by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce, the firm estimates tax evasion in Greece to be as high as 6 to 9 percent of GDP.