Owners challenge property tax
More than a thousand property owners in Greece are about to take recourse to the courts against their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) bill, as the government has already conceded that there have been some errors in their calculation.
Approximately 1,500 property owners who saw this year’s ENFIA rise sharply have filed complaints with the Tax Dispute Arbitration Department. The owners in question cite the large increase in zoning prices in the areas where they own their properties, which led to the increase in ENFIA. They also talk about prices that do not correspond to reality, as there were no contracts that show the conditions and trends that prevail in the market.
Naturally, these appeals will be dismissed, as there is no getting around the legislation. The agencies responsible for the new zone rates followed the law to the letter, resulting in large increases in some areas.
Those appealing know that. However, the arbitration department is the stepping stone for them to take their challenge to the administrative courts.
After four months (which is the maximum decision period for the arbitration), i.e. in October, they can appeal to the Administrative Court of First Instance, in order to create the conditions for conducting a pilot trial at the Council of State, which will also judge the constitutionality of the new regulations.
There are also many owners who are reacting to the new law on ENFIA, arguing that it burdens those who have properties worth more than 400,000 euros each by tens of thousands of euros per year, compared to owners who own property of equal value, but distributed among more properties of lower value each, but also those with assets exceeding €500,000, combined with large increases in property values in some areas and especially (unprofitable) urban plots, leading to literally huge tax charges.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently spoke about errors in ENFIA which must be corrected. The services of the ministry have collected data from various regions of Greece where extreme hikes were noted. However, it has not yet been decided how they will be dealt with.
