Additional tax up to 40-50 pct above last year

More than two-fifths of Greek taxpayers have to fork out additional tax this year averaging 1,211 euros, according to the tax statements submitted and processed until Tuesday.

The latest Finance Ministry statistics show that 2,169,654 taxpayers have received a pay notice for the 2016 income declarations they have submitted. They account for 40.73 percent of all taxpayers, up from 37.95 percent of last year’s taxpayers. Given that the process is ongoing as hundreds of thousands of statements have yet to be filed, the rate is set to grow further.

Accounting offices report that the additional tax is up by as much as 40-50 percent for most taxpayers compared to last year, owing to the increase in the solidarity levy and new tax rates.

With barely six days left until the July 17 deadline, there are about 800,000 declarations that have not been submitted, which is likely to force the ministry to extend the submission deadline further.