Greece will recalculate “imputed” income for taxi owners and market sellers

Greece is preparing to adjust rules for calculating the minimum taxable income for some self-employed people. Changes will affect co-owners of taxis and professional sellers at public markets – lakes agorés.

We are talking about the so-called τεκμαρτό εισόδημα – the minimum income that the tax authorities can take as the basis for calculating tax, regardless of the actual declared profit of the entrepreneur.

The proposed approach should take into account not only the type of activity itself, but also its real parameters: the person’s share in the taxi license and the actual number of working days for sellers in the markets.

Taxi co-owners are promised payment based on ownership share

For taxi owners, the key criterion will be the share of ownership of the car or license.

Now co-ownership can create an obvious imbalance: a person who owns only part of the taxi runs the risk of being subject to a calculation comparable to the income of the sole owner.

The new mechanism assumes that the minimum income will be determined in proportion to the share of ownership. For example, with a share of 50%, the calculation should not be made as if the entrepreneur owns the entire car.

For sellers in markets – taking into account the real schedule

A separate adjustment applies to professional sellers at public markets. Their work is not necessarily carried out every day and throughout the year: the schedule depends on permits, seasonality, weather and the number of markets in which the seller operates.

Therefore, the authorities intend to take into account actual days of activityrather than assuming a model of continuous annual employment.

For this category, a reduction in the minimum imputed net income by 30% has already been provided. The new adjustment should make the calculation even closer to real operating conditions.

What does this change in practice?

The point of the changes is not to abolish the system of minimum imputed income, but to remove situations in which it too roughly assesses the capabilities of a particular entrepreneur.

Until now, tax calculations could be based primarily on the very fact that a person conducts a certain activity: operates a taxi or has the status of a professional seller in the market. But the income of two people with the same formal status may differ markedly.

One taxi owner operates the vehicle as the sole owner and receives all the income from its operation. The other owns only half of the license or car and shares the revenue, expenses and time of work with the co-owner. If the same minimum is applied to them, the second one will effectively be taxed as if he earned the same amount as the first one.

It is this imbalance that the new scheme should eliminate: the minimum tax base for taxis will be tied to the share of participation of a specific owner.

Relatively speaking, if the minimum income for operating one taxi is X euros, then the owner of 50% should be calculated based on approximately half of this value, and not on the full X. The exact formulas, coefficients and procedure for confirming the share must be determined by separate decisions of the tax service.

Why is this especially important for markets?

For professional sellers at people’s markets, the problem is different. Their activities are not, by their nature, equal to the constant daily work of a store or office.

A seller may work several days a week, change markets, or not go out to trade due to bad weather, seasonality of goods, lack of permitted locations, or personal circumstances. Therefore, an annual calculation constructed as if trading is carried out without interruption can overestimate the expected income.

The new approach should link the minimum not only to the status of the seller, but also to actual days of work. The shorter the confirmed period of actual activity, the lower the tax base calculated based on the presumption of income should be.

This category is already subject to a 30% reduction in the minimum imputed net income. Recording actual days worked may be an additional adjustment rather than a replacement for this benefit – however, the final mechanism has yet to be officially published.

What will remain the same

The very principle of minimum imputed income remains the same. This means that an entrepreneur may still face tax calculated not only on the profit shown in the declaration, but also according to the minimum income level established by the state.

The amendments do not mean automatic tax exemption, write-off of previous assessments, or a guaranteed recalculation of returns already filed. They also do not replace the obligation to keep records, file a tax return and, if necessary, confirm data on the share in the license or actual work.

Who should keep an eye on the details?

Owners of shares in a taxi will need to check whether their percentage of participation is reflected correctly in documents and registers. This will become a key parameter for the calculation.

It will be important for people’s market vendors to be aware of what information AADE requires to verify actual days of operation: permit data, market charts, electronic registers, or other documents.

Thus, the reform does not abolish the presumption of income, but makes it less universal: the state maintains the minimum tax benchmark, while recognizing that 50% of taxis is not a whole taxi, and operating a market several days a week is not the same as a year-round store.

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