Tax statement deadline put off till August

The government announced a further extension to the deadline for the submission of income tax declarations on Friday, still mulling whether to allow banks to open next week due to various technical concerns.

The decision, signed by outgoing Alternate Finance Minister Nadia Valavani, provides for the deadline for tax statement submissions by corporations to move from July 20 to August 20, while taxpayers will have until August 26 to file their declarations, instead of July 27. This is the second extension, as the original deadline had been June 30.

The government will now have to amend the law saying taxpayers must pay their first tax installment by end-July.
By late on Friday, the Finance Ministry had not issued a legislative act clarifying when and how banks would reopen next week.

Sources agreed that banks would likely open on Monday with a limited range of transactions permitted. The daily limit on cash withdrawals will stay at 60 euros, but clients will be able to withdraw the sum of the daily amounts available to them on a weekly basis in a lump sum (whether this will be 300 or 420 euros is not yet known).

The ministry held a long meeting to deal with the various technical problems so as to ensure that all branches can reopen next week and handle the increased demand.