Tax office: more than 80,000 “hidden” properties that were illegally rented out were discovered

Greece will soon have a register of ownership and property management, as an analysis of data from 2023 has shown that there are tens of thousands of houses, apartments and offices rented illegally in our country. In this connection, the government intends to “close this shop.”

The tax inspectorate has discovered thousands of hidden real estate objects in the land cadastre (Κτηματολόγιο), which until today were not in the real estate registry lists or in electronic files. According to the publication “Απογευματινής”, we are talking about more than 80,000 real estate objects – from residential buildings, plots and land plots to warehouses and professional facilities, which, although they were declared in the land registry, were absent in the E9 declaration, as a result of which for decades they “avoided the gaze” of tax authorities.

AADE is currently preparing “lawsuit” with retroactive taxes and penalties for ownerswho all these years “didn’t even know what it was ENFIA“, because they did not pay a single euro! Thus, they simultaneously managed to reset the “presumption of subsistence level” (τεκμήρια διαβίωσης) and not lose social benefits (for housing, heating, education, etc.), which otherwise would not have been issued.

Specific owners will be notified accordingly. At the same time, the provisions of the law will be activated, which provide for the retroactive imposition of basic and additional ENFIA, penalties for late payment, as well as fines for filing false real estate tax returns. At the same time, the estimated expenses of previous years will be checked to determine whether they exceeded the income declared by the citizen.

In the case of large debtors, the inspection authorities will proceed directly to registering confiscations. “Heavy artillery” identifying cases of tax evasion by concealing the true ownership of a property by a citizen and receiving income from rent is AADE’s electronic registration of real estate owned by more than 7 million taxpayers.

Presumably in September 2024, Greece will create “Register of property and real estate management” based on the updated AADE plan. The “card” of the property will record its main characteristics, such as area, location, floor, percentage of participation (in shares). And also other “nuances”. However, in the case of rented real estate, the amount of monthly and annual rent, as well as information about the tenants, will be indicated.

The register (MIDA) will contain data from an electronic “property journal” with declarations of individuals and legal entities E9, as well as information about leased property (Form E2). The tax control mechanism will use artificial intelligence software, which will “scan” real estate objects on a satellite map of the country and compare the data with the land registry database. According to the information, aerial photographs via Google maps, data declared in the E9 real estate registry, and land registry data will be used to create the algorithm.
Property data that will be collected based on the algorithm will be compared with tax return data to identify taxpayers with undeclared or even “self-built” properties. Owners who have hidden the property or declared a smaller area will have to pay retroactive taxes and penalties (ENFIA, income tax, municipal levies, TAP), information will also be sent to the city planning authorities for the imposition of penalties provided for by law.

In addition, thanks to the new electronic file, the control mechanism will be able to directly cross-check real estate properties declared as leased, as well as rental amounts, collected and declared by owners and tenants. The property ownership and management register will be automatically updated each time a lease application is made by the owner of the property and accepted by a tenant of the same property, and will also be automatically updated each time the owner announces the termination of the lease of the property.

At the same time pregistry will be linked to the electronic platform for personal and corporate income tax returns so that the income received by owners from the operation of their real estate is pre-filled by AADE in forms E1 and E2.

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