There will be no retroactive taxes for 2015, according to the Finance Ministry. There will be an obligation to make purchases with credit cards in 2016, however senior citizens over 75 years of age or those living in isolated regions will be excluded from this rule.

After 2.5 hours of negotiations with the four institutions from the EC, ECB, ESM and IMF, the Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis said that the multibill of prior actions will require the “build-up” of a non-taxable amount of credit card purchases, however the level of this amount has yet to be decided on.

Other expenditures declared on the E1 forms on tax returns (eg. medical bills, car purchases, etc.) would also need to be purchased via bank accounts.

Furthermore, regardless of the course of the current negotiation, Alexiadis said that the ministry is evaluating reforms concerning the expenditure of the self-employed using electronic means for all spending and not just those over 500 euros as is the case today.

Alexiadis said that an agreement had been reached regarding the operation of the new General Secretariat of Public Revenue.