The Economy Ministry is planning to take measures to ease the tax burden caused by the uniform real estate ownership tax (ENFIA) to vulnerable social groups. The General Secretariat of Public Revenue is expected to issue a decision concerning this over the next few days with the possibility of some social groups receiving as much as a 100%-exemption from ENFIA.

What is foreseen:
(a) a 50% reduction to families whose revenue is less than 9,000 euros. This amount goes up 1,000 euros for the spouse and for every child as long as the size of the property doesn’t exceed 150 sq emters and under the condition that there are no unregulated amounts owed to the tax office and other funds.
(b) a full exemption for large-membered families (with three children and more) if their earnings do not exceed 12,000 euros. This amount goes up 1,000 euros for the spouse and for every child provided the size of the property doesn’t exceed 150 sq emters and under the condition that there are no unregulated amounts owed to the tax office and other funds.

In addition, there are requests for payments to be made in more than five instalments as well as calls for exemptions for properties that are vacant and provide no source of income to their owners, however the coalition government and troika have yet to approve such measures.

Problems and Confusion
Over the last 48 hours there has been confusion due to discrepancies in the tax payable by different family members. For instance, a usufructuary parent who collects rent on a property may be required to pay less tax than the child who simply has legal ownership as the usufruct has been deemed as the person with the highest tax burden. Furthermore, the same property may require tax to be paid twice on it if one family member is registered as the usufruct and another as the main owner.

Residential owners also feel resentment that tax has been added to the maintenance costs of owning property that remains vacant and doesn’t provide a source of income. People who own farm land have been shocked by the amounts they are asked to pay due to mistakes in the codification of E9 statements that have resulted in the calculation of this land to be the same as licensed urban property.