From the new year, after ENFIA, the tax declarations will also enter a new trajectory with the opening of the platform earlier and firmly started to close to stop the debate about the extension and above all to “train” the public to file on time and not. in the last moments of his statements.
In fact, “on paper” is a schedule based on which the electronic portal for declarations opens on March 1 and closes on June 30, so 6.6 million taxpayers have four months to submit their declarations .
It is noted that the issue was discussed in a meeting held by the Minister of Finance Kostis Hatzidakis with the board of the Greek Chamber of Commerce, where this proposal was decided by taking a legislative initiative.
The proposal of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce for the legislation of a strict timetable, with a clear definition of the starting date, in which the tax declarations will be submitted, was reiterated by the President of the OEE, Konstantinos Kollias, who spoke to the competent Parliamentary Committee on the bill for the Tax Procedure Code, in April.
As Mr. Kollias said before, this step must be implemented, but with the assurance that the necessary instructions will be given, there will be no pending issues and the electronic platform will be fully functional, without problems in technical. So the legislative regulation must provide for the identification of responsibilities for errors or delays, which are due to each competent body, whether from the public or from the private sector. “We do not consider it fair to impose fines on taxpayers for omissions and late submissions, for which they are not directly responsible. If there are delays in information on the part of the State, to provide the necessary additional time for submissions “.
The proposed period for submitting income tax returns is four months, from March 1 to June 30 of each year, as was the case previously.
The accountants protested
Meanwhile, the Panhellenic Federation of Tax Professionals (POFEE) yesterday held a protest rally outside the Ministry of National Economy and Finance with a basic request for the extension of tax returns at least until September 30.
According to accountants and tax experts, tight schedules make it impossible to complete the procedures on time, while a series of errors, omissions and failures in the procedures worsen the situation. For its part, the political leadership of the Ministry of Finance, through Deputy Minister Christos Dimas, once again rejected the possibility of an extension.
In response to topical questions in Parliament, Mr. Dimas naturally pointed out that “with the current pace of submitting tax returns, the process can be completed by the deadline of July 26” and called on those taxpayers “who have not yet submitted to return. to hurry to do it”. It should be noted that in order for the entire process to “close” smoothly, every day for the next 6 days, approximately 200,000 declarations must be “dropped” into the system. Something that would provide a “window” for a little “informal” extension at the end.