Softening impact on landlords
The Finance Ministry is considering three scenarios for easing the blow to property owners who miss out on 40 percent of their rental revenues for March, April and possibly May, the most likely providing for those months’ rents to be exempt from income tax.
The final decision will be made in the coming days and, as a ministry official told Kathimerini, “once income is lost, it is likely that the break will be granted through income taxation,” while not ruling out any alternative scenarios or their combined applications so as to reduce the impact on landlords.
The same official did not deny that the rental reduction measure for enterprises, freelance professionals and workers hurt by the coronavirus crisis as well as students could be extended to next month, which will also be decided in the next few days.
Besides the exemption of the reduced rents from annual taxable incomes, the ministry is considering doubling the 5 percent exemption from taxable income for repair and renovation work and the reduction of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) for landlords suffering as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
