Faced with the possibility of unbearable fines are taxpayers – natural and legal persons – who are asked to return again to already burdened accountants for to submit change statements until July 26.
With the possibility of finalizing and submitting more than 1.5 million declarations in just nine days until the deadline given by the Ministry of Finance is impossible, the market operators – Yannis Hatzitheodosiou, president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, and Giorgos Kavvathas, president of GSEVEE- and the president of the Accounting Association of Athens, Michalis Poligger explained OT because the extension of the deadline for verbal declarations, which they requested, is a one-way street.
Change changes without support
Yannis Hatzitheodosiou, president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, spoke of a big and deep political problem, supporting the request for an extension that has already been placed by accountants and tax experts.
“We are not surprised by the fact that, once again, the state machinery is not ready to fully support the changes it has implemented,” explained Mr. Hadzitheodosiou to OT.
“Like every year, the tax return is open 1/2 and ends 6/30. This year the system for natural persons is opened on 26/4 and for legal entities later, for the refund of 15/5, the statements from OPEKEPE were uploaded on 2/5 – there is a lot of evidence that shows the mismatch of purpose and reality . If you make many changes and you do it quickly and you are not ready as a state to support them, you cannot say that you will impose fines,” he added.
“We are not against changes, whether digital card, or POS, or myData. On the contrary, these are the steps that change the business environment. But without proper and comprehensive support, without If the correct framework is created, then problems arise that are difficult to solve, if there is no will to identify the problem and solve it comprehensively.
“In my opinion, there is no other option if the government does not give an extension, because the numbers will not come out otherwise. We expect to give it at the last minute”, concluded the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce.
Gaps, ambiguities and deficiencies
According to Giorgos Kavvathas, president of GSVEE, businesses, especially small ones, rely directly on tax experts. “Currently, however, we have a large percentage of those who have not submitted statements or, due to the famous pre-filling, they have to make corrections. But the problem is not only what is happening now.”
“It started from the moment the platform was opened with a long delay and from the data that was not sent to the public bodies on time, while at the same time the accounting offices were tasked with myData, the invoices from 1 /7, the POS-cash register interface”, Mr. Kavvathas reported in the OT. “All these changes that are made quickly and go through the tax offices, they do not have comprehensive support and remind of a smear.”
“Under normal circumstances, the deadline is 31/7, while this year we go four days earlier. The previously filled statements have many errors and they also need changes. If we will all enter this normality, everyone will also be relieved – but until we go in this direction, correction will be necessary again and worse – it is better to build a house from the foundations than to make task”, commented the president of GSEVEE.
“The Minister of Finance is again playing with the pain of businesses, because we are also expecting an extension this time to be given as everything seems to be at the last minute. Only now – in the middle of an intense tourist season – businesses cannot face corrections and red tape. The objective reasons are what motivates us to request the extension, as we explain in our new letter to the ministry. In fact, it should be granted the two-month extension. Unless they want to impose fines and put against 100,000 traders”, he concluded.
Market demand
The president of the Accounting Association of Athens (LSA), Michalis Poligger, spoke to OT about a problem that lies primarily with the market and not with individual accountants. “There is no logic in the union, because it is not the tax experts who ask for the extension for the same reasons, but the market, which has an immediate problem, needs it. We mediate the statements of the natural and legal persons and therefore not directly affected. We will discuss all the issues governing this request today through the Economic Chamber in a meeting with the Minister of Finance”, explained Mr. Pollyger.
“We have all been recipients of problems that have existed for many years or appeared in the last two years. First of all, only the deadline for submitting tax returns (30/6) is legislated, but not the beginning. This is a trick of the state because it is basically not ready to provide a comprehensive system where all the actors involved are also not ready. Something that will change – and with our help – because it is clear which is the minister’s purpose.”
As emphasized by the president of LSA, the responsibility for making the tax policy lies with the government – it must realize that it must legislate by the end of the year so that everything has an effect from the beginning of the next one. “Indicative, this whole story with the freelancer criteria was passed at the end of 2023, applied retroactively from the beginning of 2023 and will apply to declarations this year,” he added.
Regarding the certificates, which private and public bodies are obliged to send for employees and freelancers until 28/2, Mr. Pollyger emphasized that “there is no consistency on the part of public bodies, because they send information or update it if they want. , without meeting any deadline – so we demand that fines are finally imposed on public bodies that go outside the deadlines – while at the same time The state sent thousands of reminder messages and threatened taxpayers with fines.
The problems come from prefilling
“There’s been a lot of hype about pre-filled statements and our misunderstanding about it means we have financial losses as an industry. But the reality is that there are already possibilities for automatic access to data that expediting the declarations. The mistake is that the state files its own returns without updated data, then repeatedly sends messages to taxpayers for changes.”
While in the case of the online platform myData, accountants are asked to make a data agreement, as mentioned by Mr. Pollyger.
“All these reasons must be ready by the end of February, to have a better organization and the submission will start on 1/3 and end on 30/6. The request of everyone, the market and ours, to be formal dates so that tax returns are not the first news. Currently, with 1.5 million declarations outstanding (25% of E1) and 42% for businesses, the nine days left make the deadline In addition, we will promote this with the cooperation of all involved, at the national level, tomorrow 07/18/2024 at 18:00 in an online event to have coordination for “joint action” .