Tax bill foresees hefty fines for concealing data for short-term rentals
The new tax bill the Finance Ministry has tabled in Parliament threaten online short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb and Booking, with fines between 30,000 and 100,000 euros if they fail to supply taxpayer data related to their property rentals.
The bill also includes tax cuts for all taxpayers and corporations.
The draft law on taxation, submitted late on Tuesday to be voted in to law next month, renders much stricter the framework for hosts who hide their revenues from renting out their properties via short-term leasing platforms, as they will incur fines from 5,000 to 30,000 euros, besides the fines on the platforms.
Another change from the original text of the bill as had been submitted for public consultation concerns the tax discount the government has promised on taxpayers mending and renovating buildings.
The original 40 percent tax discount concerned a maximum expenditure of 48,000 euros, but this has now been slashed to 16,000 euros.
The bill contains tax breaks adding up to 1.18 billion euros. Salary workers, pensioners, farmers, freelance professionals and corporations stand to pay lower taxes in 2020, as the tax rates are significantly reduced, as originally planned.
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras stated on Tuesday that the government is delivering on its promises to taxpayers and corporations and will decide within this week about the handouts to sensitive social groups.
The property rates used for tax purposes, known as objective values, are also about to undergo changes: The government is planning a shift to the objective value calculation system, also taking into account the quality of buildings’ construction.
Staikouras told Open Beyond TV that, in accordance with the creditors, the government will conduct a test in May 2020 about the objective values and zone rates.
“Provisional data we have make us estimate that there may be a significant fiscal leeway, which would mean more space than what we had thought before the elections for the reduction of ENFIA,” said the minister referring to the Single Property Tax.
