ENFIA tax rates often defy logic as many Greeks endure fresh increases

As pay notices for the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) reached 6.3 million property owners last week, the mixture of good and bad shocks that they evinced in taxpayers was a clear indication of the confusion regarding how the new property rates have been calculated by the government.

Some areas that have seen a 10 percent increase in the recently adjusted zone rates, for example, have also seen a 28 percent rise in their ENFIA bill for this year compared to last. In others there may have been a rise in the taxable rates (known as objective values) up to 19 or even 22 percent, but the main property tax has remained unchanged, with hikes only on those due to pay the supplementary property tax.

For example, an apartment of 85 square meters in the eastern Athens suburb of Aghios Dimitrios built in 1981 had up to last year an objective value of 56,551 euros before the change in zone rates, which up to last year amounted to 1,000 euros/sq.m. This year, the objective value has climbed to 62,206 euros, but the ENFIA tax rose from 255.41 euros in 2017 to 325.87 euros this year. Therefore the 10 percent rise in the zone rate resulted in a 28 percent hike in the tax.

This year’s notices, published on Taxisnet last Tuesday, showed a hike in the main ENFIA tax by up to 4.7 euros per square meter, although the vast majority of the 1 million owners to suffer a rise this year saw an increase of 1.5-1.9 euros per square meter. The example of the 25th Zone in the First Section of the City of Athens is best known for the 1,300-euro annual hike in ENFIA.

The list of Attica districts with an additional burden of 150-190 euros year-on-year for a 100-sq.m. apartment is long enough: It includes the areas of Vouliagmeni, Glyfada, Kifissia, Nea Erythrea, Palaio Faliro, Daphne, Egaleo and Aghios Dimitrios.

The majority of owners saw no change to their ENFIA tax either because there was no change in their zone rate or because the change introduced to the objective values did not affect their ENFIA. Those who saw a decline in dues, enjoyed a reduction ranging from 0.8 to 1.5 euros/sq.m.

Greece had the second highest rise in property taxes among the member-states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the period from 2008 to 2016.