Taxpayers lost in translation
The Finance Ministry made it clear on Wednesday that Greece-based taxpayers who pay a 10 percent tax on the interest they collect from their deposits in banks abroad do not need to have the relevant documents translated into Greek.
The ministry?s circular confirmed that the original copy of the foreign bank?s statement or receipt is enough for the tax authorities to calculate the amount of tax due.
A number of tax office employees had been found to be asking taxpayers to produce an official translation of bank statements into Greek, which often cost more than the actual tax they had to pay.
This was despite the absence of any such guideline from the ministry.
Meanwhile the finance authorities are preparing for more cross-checking of tax statements so as to find out whether interest from deposits abroad has been declared.
Taxpayers who have ?forgotten? to make the relevant declaration will be invited to submit a supplementary tax statement and then pay a fine provided as by tax regulations.
