Greece’s first regulatory framework on property rentals via websites such as Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and HouseTrip will introduce a 5 percent tax per night and impose a fine of 50,000 euros on owners who do not enter their details in the relevant register. Owners’ revenues will also be taxed at the rates used for rental

The General Secretariat for Public Revenue has begun identifying properties owned by Greek taxpayers in 84 other countries which cooperate with the Greek authorities in a data exchange system. The secretariat’s agencies have already started drawing information from other European Union states and by the end of 2017 they expect to have completed their monitoring

The Single Property Tax (ENFIA) is to undergo significant changes from 2017 after the Council of State ruled that the method used to calculate the tax for four areas in the country was illegal on the grounds that it did not take into account their special features in the assessment of their objective values. Finance

The introduction of the capital gains tax in property sales is to be postponed for another year, as the Finance Ministry is preparing an amendment that will likely extend its suspension from end-2016 to end-2017. The tax, voted into law in 2013, ran into a series of problems and has been repeatedly suspended. Its non-application

An estimated 60,000 Greeks – as well as many more depositors in countries around the world – are worried about the introduction of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which goes into effect on January 1, 2017. Once in force, the CRS will allow tax authorities in a number of countries to share the detailed data

Only taxpayers who make payments by credit and debit card will be entitled to claim a tax-free threshold as of next year, according to a bill the Finance Ministry tabled in Parliament midnight on Monday. However, there will be an exception for pensioners, who will be gradually introduced to the obligatory use of cards for

The state is turning its inspection focus on the 2012-16 period, with the Independent Authority for Public Revenue – the former General Secretariat for Public Revenue at the Finance Ministry – planning 23,300 checks on taxpayers and corporations in 2017, even though it does not have enough employees to conduct them. A number of recent

In its efforts to reach a compromise with the creditors for the completion of the second bailout review, the government is examining a scenario whereby the automatic fiscal mechanism agreed last year (aka “the cutter”) would also include the reduction of the tax-free threshold and pensions. The cutter forces the Greek government to take corrective

The Finance Ministry has finally issued a list detailing the types of electronic spending – credit and debit cards, e-banking and money forwarding – that will count toward the income tax discount granted to most taxpayers as of this year. Just a handful of expenses are excluded, meaning that the threshold will be attainable for

Luxury holiday homes in Greece are now the focus of foreign investors, with popular islands such as Myconos and Santorini grabbing most of the attention thanks to the high yields they offer those interested in leasing them out. According to analyst Konstantinos Sideris of Algean Property – a company active in the holiday home market