ECONOMY

State to give support to landlords as well as tenants

State to give support to landlords as well as tenants

Next week the Finance Ministry will announce the measures to support the landlords who have lost 40 percent of their rental revenues in March, April and May. Sources say the government is considering covering part of the losses through this year’s tax declarations, while in 2021 they will only pay tax for the actual rent collected.

According to a top ministry official, the rent reduction measure is about to come to an end, and will only continue to apply to the few enterprises that will remain closed on government orders, with some companies set to be supported in this way until September. The cost the ministry will undertake is estimated at 500 million euros.

Sources say the ministry’s plan for property owners collecting only 60% of rents provides for the horizontal sharing of losses through the tax obligations in the year’s second half: Landlords will enjoy a drop in their income tax and if that is not enough their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) will also be slashed. Property owners will be asked next month to submit a declaration of losses so that the Independent Authority for Public Revenue can proceed to the offsetting of income tax dues according to the discount the landlords merit.

The plan also provides for owners to declare the actual rental income collected in 2020 in next year’s tax declaration, which will also reduce the income tax due next year and in many cases put them in a more favorable income tax bracket.

Meanwhile a statement by Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis about a possible extension of the 40% rental reduction till the end of the year drew the ire of the federation of property owners (POMIDA). In a statement it said that landlords “not only feel unfairly treated but also mocked, and are asking for an end to the theft of their incomes and assets.”

However, a Finance Ministry official vehemently ruled out the possibility of rents being reduced through the end of the year, noting that enterprises are gradually reopening and the 40 percent discount is about to end.

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