To the Minister of Finance Mr. Christos Staikouras,
The Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis
The Deputy Minister Finance Mr.Apostolos Vesyropoulos >
SUBJECT: Resolution of outstanding 2020 homeowner’s compensation and tax returns.
Dear Mr. Ministers, Mr Governors,
The reduction of rents in many categories of property leases during the period March-December 2020, created a lot of conflicts and pending between owners and tenants but also of the State, and ultimately complete uncertainty as to the amounts of rent that must be declared by the lessors of these properties in the 2020 income tax returns, which must be resolved immediately, so that the submission of the 2020 tax returns can happen seamlessly and only in this way can the special provision provided for by the addition of paragraph 43 to article 72 of the Civil Code, that
“43. The amount of the rent does not constitute income and is not subject to income tax and special solidarity contribution of article 43 A of the C.F.E., as the case may be which was not collected or is not collected as required by law in the context of dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus, for all the months in which the measure of reduced payment was or will be in force …….on the monthly rent at a percentage … or which was not collected or is not collected … in accordance with provisions in the context of dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus.”
To this end the necessary interventions and solutions that must be provided by the Ministry of Finance and the AADE in relation to the above period March-December 2020, so that each owner knows what he is entitled to collect and from whom and what he must declare , are the following:
- Platform opening: It is preferable to immediately open the AADE platform for submitting initial COVID declarations and corrections of all kinds of errors and omissions year 2020, with an indication now on each COVID statement of whether he is indeed entitled to a reduction any residential or commercial tenant.
- Resolve Backlogs: To complete all outstanding 2020 landlord error corrections, payments and compensation offsets, including with installments of settled debts and to restore the image of liquidationsin the application of real estate rental declarations/updation for COVID declarations.
- Explicit mention in the negative answers of AADE: that “the tenant was not affected and therefore not entitled to a rent reduction.” and that: “therefore, based on the information available in our service the lessee is obliged to pay the full rent “, to end their bad faith refusal to pay, collect and declare these 2020 rents in the owners’ E2.
- In all cases of rejected COVID declarations strong>: Declare what has actually been received!This year’s hoarseness of the tax experts concerns the way of declaring the rents for the year 2020 for two cases of owners:
- Those whose COVID declarations have been rejected due to errorsor
- Those who inadvertently did not make a declaration
Specifically, Landlords who have been cleared of COVID declarations with rejection, because their Tenant was not affected, should declare their rents in full and claim in full then the dues!
But because until today despite the continuous requests of POMIDA the application for March-October 2020 COVID declarations for initial and amending declarations has not been opened, and the taxpayers strong>do not know how to make their declarations, we propose to give the possibility to the owners who fall into these categories to declare only the rents actually collected in the year 2020,and for ensuring them in a possible audit, to keep the 2020 settlements and the bank deposits of rent payments, without getting involved in out-of-court notifications, filing lawsuits, etc.
President The Special Adviser The Secretary General Stratos I. Paradias Giorgos Christopoulos Tasos G. Vappas Lawyer AP-President UIPI Tax Technician – Writer Lawyer A.P. – y.D.N.