Greek law on taxation of Greek Australians changed

Documents that Greek Australians are required to submit to the Greek Tax Authority – in order to prove that they do not reside in Greece and in order to avoid any additional taxes – have changed.
This is pursuant to the recent tax law No. 4141/2013, published in the Government’s Gazette No. 81 Α/05.04.2013,
So, article 43 of the above law, states the following:
“The individual who declares that he is a foreign resident and acquired actual income in Greece, must submit together with his annual tax return in Greece, a statement from the Tax Authority of the country of his residence, stating that he is a ‘tax resident’ of this country or a copy of the Notice of his Tax Assessment or, in lack thereof, a copy of the tax return which was submitted to that country. The statement is issued by the competent tax authority or any other public, municipal or any other recognized authority.”
What does this practically mean?
Although any interpretation of these provisions is premature before the issuance of the relevant Minister’s Ruling, the following could be noted:
1. The documents are required only for those who declare actual income in Greece. In simple terms, this refers to those who receive rents, income from business, etc. Those who just have under their names a property in Greece (house, plot, etc) or an undivided interest share on a property, without any income, do not have to submit this documentation; only those that receive rents from this property.
2. Greek Australians are not required to submit their Australian tax return (necessarily) to the Greek Tax Authority. They should submit a statement from the Australian Tax Office verifying that they are Australian ‘tax residents’ instead.
It appears that the protests of our fellow Greek Australians have been taken into consideration. In any case and given the fact that the deadline for the submission of the tax certificates for the fiscal year 2011 has been extended to June 28 2013, we will have to wait for the Minister’s Ruling in order to obtain a clear picture as to the actual documents that will eventually be required.
* John Tripidakis, LL.B.(Athens), LL.M. (London) is an Australian registered foreign (Greek) lawyer, entitled to practice foreign (Greek) law only. For more information visit www.greeklawyers.com.au

Neoskosmos.com