TIF: Incentives to boost e-payments

The situation in the Middle East further increases the uncertainty and the possible consequences it will have on the course of the Greek economy. Nevertheless, the economic staff seems to still have time to determine its next moves until the Prime Minister’s announcements at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) in early September.

The final decisions, based also on the new developments at the geopolitical level, will be taken literally at the last minute.

The government’s objective is for any measures decided upon to apply to all citizens, with a particular focus on the middle class, while interventions are also being planned to further reduce tax evasion and address the housing issue.

A significant part of the upcoming announcements will include tax relief measures as well as incentives for electronic payments.

Among the scenarios under consideration are:

• Review of the tax deduction for electronic payments to professionals where high rates of tax evasion are recorded.
• Reduction of taxes.
• Abolition of the method of calculating tax for the self-employed based on imputed income.
• Reduction of employer social security contributions by at least half a percentage point.
• Reduction of the deemed income criteria (living standards presumptions) by 30% and their gradual abolition in the coming years, aiming to eliminate distortions and ensure a fairer distribution of the tax burden.

Another scenario being considered is for further improvements to the out-of-court mechanism.