Register for short-term rentals remains elusive

The register of properties leased on a short-term basis through online platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway should already have been up and running since early 2017, which would have contained tax avoidance by the majority of owners.

However, despite statements by Deputy Finance Minister Katerina Papanatsiou that the register would open in a few days’ time back in mid-July, nothing has come of them.

And so we risk another summer season passing by, with this activity at its peak, without the state securing the revenues it should collect, no matter how many spot checks the tax authorities conduct to identify the property owners who are not declaring incomes from renting out their assets.