A joint proposal by the Ministry for the Economy and the Ministry of Justice was tabled in Parliament late last night. Amongst others, the issues contained in the proposed Bill, include reforms to the Bankruptcy Code for businesses, as well as the use of “plastic money” in electronic transactions, using credit and debit bank cards and e-banking.
A third area covered by the Bill, is the voluntary declaration of undisclosed income.
From 1st January, 2017, salaried workers, pensioners and those who exclusively work as farmers must now use bank cards and online transactions to show expenditure of up to 10-20% of their income to retain their tax-free threshold of 1,900-2,100 euros that they are currently entitled to.
This new law is based on an agreement between the Government and lenders in an effort encourage increased use of cards and e-banking, which will also as a result, reduce the risk and frequency of tax evasion.
In the future, it is anticipated that all retail and wholesale traders would be obliged by law to accept bank cards and electronic banking and a provision is being made to penalise traders who do not cooperate with the law.
Exempt from the measures contained in this parliamentary bill will be the very elderly and residents of small villages, islands and settlements. These taxpayers will however, be required to provide receipts to the value of the same percentages of their income.
Transactions with bank cards will be entered into Public Lotteries and could win monetary prizes or goods and services.
Source: skai.gr