ENFIA and uncollected rent tax set to be scrapped
The Single Property Tax (ENFIA) will be abolished, an amendment on unpaid rents will be tabled and the tax-free threshold will rise to 12,000 euros per year, Alternate Finance Minister Nadia Valavani announced on Thursday, while Minister Yanis Varoufakis stated that “we will see the end” of the solidarity tax. However the two officials disagreed on the issue of a value-added tax hike on certain islands, highlighting that there is no common position on the issue within the ministry.
The prime minister’s office also said that the ENFIA tax will be abolished within 2015 and replaced by the Large Property Tax (FMAP), and that the new tax bill will be submitted in Parliament during the second half of the year, including the 12,000-euro tax-free threshold for 2015 incomes to be declared in 2016.
According to Valavani, “the law on ENFIA will change this year following the adjustment of objective values,” referring to the property rates used for tax purposes.
She added that any tax-free threshold determined will concern all properties owned by a taxpayer and not just the main domicile, as it is not possible to separate an individual’s assets, and that the pledge on the tax-free threshold for the main domicile will have to be revised.
Regarding unpaid rents, Valavani said that an amendment will be submitted to restore the landlords’ option to concede uncollected payments to the state to avoid having to pay tax for rents they have not received (ranging between 11 percent and 33 percent). Valavani said that was an unfair regulation and indirectly blamed it on the general secretary for public revenues, Katerina Savvaidou.
On the issue of value-added tax on the islands, Varoufakis told Parliament that “I will not sign any VAT increase for the islands,” while Valavani said there are grounds for the waiving of the VAT discount for Myconos and Santorini.
