Value-added tax

The new measures to be applied by the Greek Government before Christmas holidays in order to receive the sub-tranche of 1 billion euros will be determined today by Euroworking Group held in Brussels.

Deputy Minister of Finance Giorgos Chouliarakis participates in today’s meeting.

Economic cooperation with China is on Bulgaria's priority list, taking into account the huge potential and brisk development of the world's second largest economy, Bulgaria's Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski has said.

The first “leftist” budget for 2016 was tabled today by Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos which will be voted on December 5th.

“I have the honor to submit the state budget for 2016,” Mr. Tsakalotos said before handing over the budget and the relevant USB stick to President of the Parliament Nikos Voutsis.

Funds to have been yielded from scrapped plans to impose a 23% VAT hike on private schools will now be yielded by raising a fee on lottery games operated by OPAP, according to an agreement reached between the Greek government and Greece’s lenders on Tuesday.

Greek Parliament will table the third bill with prior actions necessary to unlock the 2-billion-euro bailout tranche on Tuesday.

“The VAT hike in restaurants and hotels is due to the shortfall in tax revenue” Jeroen Dijsselbloem said replying to a relative question posed by ND’s MEP Giorgos Kyrtsos at yesterday’s meeting of the Economic and Monetary Committee.

The president of the Eurogroup underlined that if VAT rate was reduced, it would pose great obstacles in the adjustment process.

A mere 9 percent of concert ticket fees go into the wallets of Turkish musicians, making organizations rather risky for both firms and artists due to high costs and taxes, an industry representative has said. 

Bulgaria's parliament on Wednesday tightened tax rules for company-registered cars and lowered the ceiling for cash payments.

Under draft amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act adopted on first reading, companies will be able to reimburse only up to 70% of VAT on the purchase price of a vehicle if they use it for personal travel during weekends.

The Greek Organization of Football Prognostics SA (OPAP) said on Monday that it was opposed to scenarios of extra charges or taxes on any of its games following reports regarding this.

Speaking at a Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) event on tax evasion and, Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis revealed plans to encourage electronic transactions and make electronic transactions mandatory for certain classes of businesses, based on criteria such as location and size.