Leisure craft owners prove forgetful on tax
Nearly one in two taxpayers who bought a leisure craft in 2002 either failed to declare their purchase or withheld crucial details, the Finance Ministry said yesterday. According to the ministry’s General Secretariat for Computer Systems, a total of 14,138 yachts, speedboats and other leisure craft either changed hands or were bought new in 2002 – and should therefore have been declared on last year’s tax declarations. Greeks are obliged to list assets, such as cars, motorbikes, aircraft, leisure craft and swimming pools, in their annual income tax declarations as «evidence of presumed income.» But the ministry said only 9,366 of the 14,138 new leisure craft owners had done so in full. A further 3,699 declared the vessels but not their value, 2,257 made no mention of their purchases and 1,631 did not even file a tax declaration. All offenders are to be fined.
