About one in 10 taxpayers haven’t filed income declarations

With two weeks to go before the final extended deadline to submit income tax forms – noon on Thursday, August 31 – 5,945,364 of the about 6.5 million taxpayers, or slightly over 9 out of 10 (91.5%) have submitted their declarations so far, the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) says. 

Authorities are adamant that no further extension will be granted, although they had also said that about the previous deadline, July 31, before deciding that the wave of wildfires in the second half of July warranted an extension.

Of those who have submitted their tax forms, nearly half, or 2,863,287 (48.16%), will be paying no additional tax. The vast majority are wage earners and pensioners, whose taxes are withheld at the source and who have – or don’t declare – no additional income. 

An additional 967,310 (16.27%) taxpayers are due a rebate. Of those, 674,360 have received a total of about €161 million. The rest owe money, either to AADE or EFKA, the social security fund, and their rebates are balanced against their debt.

Finally, 2,114,765 taxpayers (35.57% of those who have submitted their declarations so far) have been assessed to owe additional taxes of €3.05 billion, an average of about €1,449 per taxpayer, up from €1,226 last year; tax officials expect the average to rise further once all declarations are in.

Normally, taxpayers can pay their tax in 8 installments, from end-June to end-February. This means that those who submit their forms late must pay both the July and August installments by Aug. 31. But AADE also provides for payment, with interest, in 12 or 24 installments, if taxpayers request it.

{YPKAT}PROKOPIS HATZINIKOLAOU{YPKAT}