12 tax reductions and measures to boost citizens’ incomes, as well as the imposition of a climate crisis resilience fee on tourist accommodation per daily use and per room or apartment, following the Prime Minister’s announcements at the TIF are included, among other things, in the draft law of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance to be put directly to public consultation. The bill, entitled “Measures to boost income, tax incentives for innovation and business transformation and other provisions”, also includes reforms that modernise tax legislation, such as a new framework for filing tax returns with discounts for those who are consistent and penalties for state officials and companies that delay in transmitting the necessary data to the AADE.
Specifically, with regard to private real estate, this draft law, according to the Ministry of Finance’s press release, includes the measures announced by the Prime Minister at the TIF and specifically provides for the following interventions, which will be commented on when the full text of the bill is posted and studied:
1.Income tax exemption for 3 years for properties to be rented out that were previously declared as vacant or allocated for short-term rental.
Specifically, it relates to residential properties:
(a) up to 120 sq. m,
(b) for which leases of at least three years will be concluded between 8 September 2024 and 31 December 2025,
(c) for which the tax years 2022, 2023 and 2024 (if the lease is concluded in 2025), were declared as vacant real estate (Form E2) or were not declared as leased real estate or as the main or secondary residences of the lessors or as owner-occupied or free-of-charge real estate (Forms E1 and E2) or were exclusively allocated for short-term leasing and the concluded short-term leases have been declared to the Tax Administration.
2. Double reduction of ENFIA from 2025 (from 10% to 20%) for residences of individuals, taxable value up to 500,000 euros, which are insured for natural disasters (fire, earthquake, flood). A condition is that the insurance must be for the previous year with a duration of at least 3 months. If the duration of the insurance of the previous subparagraphs is less than 1 year, the reduction of the ENIAC shall be adjusted proportionally.
3. Extension until 31 December 2026 of the suspension of the imposition of capital gains tax on the transfer of immovable property.
4. The submission of tax returns will be from 15 March to 15 July each year, both for individuals and legal entities.
A deduction is provided for those who pay the full amount of income tax by 31 July and if they submit their tax return, as follows:
4% discount for anyone who submits a return from 15 March to 30 April.
3% discount from 1 May to 15 June.
2% discount from 16 June to 15 July.
The tax is paid in 8 equal monthly instalments, the 1st of which is paid by 31 July.
5. A climate resilience fee is introduced on tourist accommodation per day use and per room or apartment in the months April to October as follows:
in rented furnished rooms – apartments, EUR 2,
in properties available through short-term rentals, EUR 8. If the properties made available through short-term rentals are detached houses of more than 80 m², a resistance fee of 15 euros shall be imposed;
in self-catering accommodation – tourist furnished villas, 15 euros;
in self-catering accommodation – tourist furnished houses, 8 euros if the surface area is less than 80 m² and 15 euros if it is more than 80 m².
For the period November – March, the durability fee is structured as follows: in rented furnished rooms – apartments, 0.5 euros,
in properties available through short-term lease, 2 euros. If the properties available through short-term lease are single-family houses over 80 sq.m., a durability fee of 4 euros is imposed,
in self-catering accommodation – tourist furnished mansions (villas), 4 euros,
in self-catering accommodation – tourist furnished houses, 2 euros, if their area is less than 80 sq.m. and 4 euros if it is over 80 m2. The revenue from the imposition of the fee is used to cover the costs of prevention and restoration of natural disasters, climate change adaptation projects and infrastructure improvement costs to support the country’s tourism product . 6. Suspension of the availability of new homes in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Municipal Community of the Municipality of Athens for short-term lease for one year. Specifically, from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025, registration in the Short-Term Property Registry is not permitted for properties located in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Municipal Communities of the Municipality of Athens. In case of non-compliance, a fine equal to 50% of the income obtained from short-term rental from January 1, 2025 and until the inspection, which is not lower than 20,000 euros, is foreseen. In the event of a new violation within the same tax year, a fine equal to the amount of rents collected is imposed, which is not less than 40,000 euros. 7. The procedures for granting financing in the form of a loan to cover the housing needs of a first home and energy upgrading of properties through the Recovery Fund (“MY HOME” program) are promoted. In more detail, the terms, conditions and the procedure for granting loans and interest rate subsidies to natural persons, the criteria and the way of checking the eligibility conditions, etc. are defined. I rent’ as well as its retroactive application. In more detail, it is planned to increase the subsidy for the realization of repair and renovation costs on the property included in the program in the amount of up to 13,500 euros from 10,000 euros today, which includes the required materials and works. The subsidy now amounts to 60% of incurred costs from 40% today. 9. Exemption from ENFIA for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027 for the properties of the Municipality of Soufli in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. 10. Establishment and enrichment of the digital platform – geoportal “valuemaps.gov.gr – Objective determination of real estate values on a map”, which is the digital display register of the Objective Determination of Real Estate Values system (APAA) for extracting information regarding starting prices, starting price adjustment factors, maps, price tables and how property values are calculated. The platform presents all the data related to these zones and provides a function to calculate the objective value of the properties.
We also note that: The fixed telephony fee (5%) for optical fiber connections (≥100 Mbps) is abolished and that in the next bill of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, the submission to vote of the VAT exemption of new buildings and for the 2025.
