Finance Ministry Planning to Facilitate Taxpayers

Greek tax offices are promoting new regulations aiming to prolong the payment period for tax debts in order to facilitate the overburdened Greek households, while also increasing state revenue, the Greek Finance Ministry announced. Finance Ministry officials plan to increase the installments for paying a debt to 48, as opposed to today’s 12, and are to introduce the plan to the negotiations with the Troika. It is estimated that by increasing the number of installments for settling tax debts, many taxpayers would be able to easier serve their financial obligations, thus avoiding fines and imprisonment. The existing regulation which foresees for 12 installments hasn’t resulted in positive results yet, as many Greek taxpayers can’t afford to pay for the large amounts that result by the particular installment regulation. Moreover, current regulations only increase the overdue debts for 2014, which at the end of April, according to data by the Ministry, exceeded €4.3 billion, opposed to €3.5 billion the previous month, and are to further increase in May. The new regulations are also expected to contribute in increasing public revenue, under the condition that more taxpayers will be subjected to the new regulations. Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou announced tax cuts and other measures for supporting vulnerable groups in the new state budget, which is due for the end of the year.

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