In a new video on TikTok, Kyriakos Mitsotakis provided clarification on the regulation included in the new bill of the Ministry of National Economy for taxing tips.
The prime minister explains what is in place with this particular regulation, which he describes as a “fair and balanced solution for a critical category of workers.”
In detail what he says:
“The whole truth about tipping. Working in the restaurant business is difficult and demanding and leaving a tip to the employees who serve us is a minimal recognition of this difficult job.
The impression has been created that suddenly the government wants to tax tips. This is completely inaccurate. To date, there is provision for tax on tips, for tips paid through electronic payments. This issue has simply come up for the simple reason that after Covid there has been a significant increase in electronic transactions, which is, after all, what we are after.
So we are coming to regulate this issue. And we decided that it should be tax-free as 300 euros per employee per month when paid by credit card and not by cash. Above 300 euros these will be taxed and I think that this is also fair, because we cannot create two categories of workers because there are many professions in which there are simply no tips. And if a worker thinks about covering part of his salary with tips, he should know that we will be very strict.
I think you understand now what the truth is and that we really want to take care of the employees who work in the restaurant industry. A fair and balanced solution for a critical category of workers.”