Big changes are coming from 1 January 2025 for one million freelancers and businesses, with the exclusive use of data in myDATA.
The main difference compared to what we have known so far is that the taxation and completion of VAT returns will now be based exclusively on the data (income and expenses) that have been transmitted to myDATA, with zero possibility of deviations.
This development closes another window of tax evasion and it is estimated that it may enable the Ministry of Economy and Finance to pursue a more pro-tax policy, while at the same time it may free up funds for social policy.
At the same time, from next year, the system of pre-completed income tax returns for employees and pensioners is expected to be extended. For the rest, according to the plan, additional codes will be locked, so that there is no possibility of falsifying them for personal gain.
What changes from next year:
The landscape is completely changed from 2025 with electronic invoicing, since the Tax Office will no longer accept and recognize any other documents for purchases and sales, apart from those that have been transmitted to the myDATA electronic platform.
Thus, the last «windows» of discrepancies in revenue and expenditure with respect to the corresponding data in the digital accounts no longer exist. This will result in VAT and income tax returns being pre-filled, with codes «locked», which means that the tax will be calculated automatically.
What does this mean in practice? For a large number of professionals and businesses, the elimination of the permissible deviation limits removes the «weapon» of excessive expenditure (which was not accompanied by the corresponding documents), which led to a reduction in the final tax burden.
Transitional period until the end of the year:
* From 1 July to 30 September, the margins for deviations narrow to 10% for revenue data and 20% for expenditure data.
* From October 1 to December 31, 2024, data discrepancies in revenue data will be zeroed out, while in expenditure data there will be a possibility for additional expenditure at a rate of 5%.
Marginal corrections for self-employed persons:
It is estimated that a «surgical» type of intervention will be added to the above change, the outline of which will be announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the TIF and will concern the presumptive way of taxing 730,000 freelancers, aiming at «a fairer system», as he has stated.
Without overturning the basic core of the presumptive system of calculating the minimum taxable income, the corrections planned by the financial staff will focus on the turnover criterion, on the basis of which the presumptive income is increased, as well as on the criterion of payroll costs, which, especially for sole proprietorships employing staff with many years of employment, significantly increases the presumptive income.
Consideration is also being given to including family income to cover the presumptive amount and improvements to the process of challenging the minimum presumptive income, as the fear of an audit discourages self-employed people from asking for a tax bill “haircut”.
Finally, the scenario of reducing the burden of the adjustment of the minimum wage, which is the basis for calculating the minimum imputed income, is on the table.
The increase of the minimum wage from 780 to 830 euros raises the minimum imputed taxable income from 10,920 euros in 2023 to 11,620 euros in 2024.
Thanasis Papadis
