Tax rebates to be automatic

The tax administration is resorting to automatic procedures to pay off state debts faster, with the aim of bringing the pending tax refunds to taxpayers down to zero.

Today, outstanding tax rebates amount to 792 million euros, of which €286 million is more than 90 days old, and the rest within the time frame set by law and European directives. However, out of the €286 million, €257 million cannot be repaid due to external factors, such as the non-response of beneficiaries and non-presentation of supporting documents.

In recent years, significant efforts have been made to reduce outstanding refunds. From €1.2 billion at the end of 2015, they have now been reduced to €792 million, while being on a downward trajectory.

This is now the case as the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) has a better picture of the income and expenses of businesses and individuals, while for each legal entity there is an extensive electronic history and auditors generally have the profile of businesses at their disposal.

The electronic data, MyDATA and the tax compliance achieved provide the opportunity to have both income tax and value-added tax returned faster, without paperwork. According to AADE statistics, timely VAT payments amount to 87.63%, while timely payments of corporate income tax reach 89.21%.

The state has therefore begun to pay its debts to third parties, which for years was a point of friction between the creditors and Greek governments.

As of this Saturday, the tax administration will activate the fast income tax refunds and, as tax administration executives report, this is the first step, while the automatic VAT refunds will also follow, a process that mostly concerns businesses.

Faster returns do not mean no checks will be carried out. Therefore, in the event that the submission of initial or amending statements results in a credit balance to be refunded, this will be returned by the tax administration after an assessment based on risk analysis criteria.