The Real Estate Single Ownership Tax (ENFIA) amendment was discussed by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and coalition Deputy Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Monday. Coming out of the meeting, Hardouvelis said that the revisions to the tax rates for 4,000 residential areas around Greece and the official number of payment installments are to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday and discussed on Friday.

Some ENFIA changes:

* It has been decided that owners of vacant property that is not rented out or connected to the electricity grid will be privy to a tax reduction. In such cases, the tax discount is expected to be no more than 20 percent on the assessed tax.

* Tax payments are to take place in six installments, without extra charges, starting from the end of September, rather than the five installments initially planned for.

* Plots of land in villages but outside regions of Objective Determination of Value will be calculated as the minimum value between ENFIA clearance and last year’s so-called Real Estate Property (FAP) tax clearance.

* Disabled people can request a tax exemption via Taxisnet, the Ministry of Finance’s electronic platform.

* The island of Kefalonia will be exempt from ENFIA this year after being stricken by an earthquake.

The General Secretary of Public Revenue is going to issue a guidebook for the proper completion of the E9 form pointing out the most common errors made by taxpayers.

The ENFIA tax that replaces the FAP tax and a levy payable through electricity bills was applied with disastrous results several weeks ago as property owners found that they were overtaxed. The government was prompt in acknowledging the mistakes and put payments on hold while revising payment deadlines.