Three options for deposit cut
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras announced on Thursday a “generous” reduction to the income tax deposit for businesses and freelance professionals, adding that tax breaks will be reviewed as of September. The ministry also announced the extension of the submission deadline for income tax declarations by a month.
Sources say the ministry is examining three options for the tax deposit reduction: The first concerns a horizontal cut of 100% to 50%, though this would favor sectors doing brisk trade this year; the second provides for a reduction depending on the sector, which could easily be manipulated, according to a ministry official; and the third – which the ministry appears to be leaning toward – concerns targeted reductions depending on the amount of losses.
In the next few days the ministry will present Parliament with a bill containing all the measures recently announced, including the increase in the number of tax payment tranches and the 2% discount for the payment of annual tax dues in a lump sum.
The ministry confirmed on Thursday that the deadline for uploading tax declarations concerning 2019 incomes is being extended from June 30 to July 29, but the deadline for the first installment has not changed from July 31.
