Tax authorities in Greece will scrutinize real estate purchases that were conducted in cash. Aim of the tax authorities is to trace and sources of money used for the transactions and possibly trace money laundering.
The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) is tracing the money trail for thousands of properties that were either bought in full with cash or part of the price was paid in cash. At the same time, the target is 2,500 real estate cases with a year-end statute of limitations.
The soaring of realty transfers led the tax administration to create two new special directorates of capital (KEFOK) that will operate in Athens and Thessaloniki. The first, in the capital, will begin operating on April 22, while that of Thessaloniki will do so in May.
The tax administration’s moves are aimed at automating processes so that transfers are completed faster, the cases where tax evasion is suspected are scrutinized, and taxpayers and businesses are better served.
First up are real estate sales, mainly those made with cash, parental concessions, donations, those exempt from ENFIA and the special real estate tax, as well as notaries, who will be checked for the correct application of the legislation on real estate transfers.
According to AADE data, since the launch of the myPROPERTY platform in March 2021, almost one in four transfers has been made in cash. Specifically, 42,613 property transfer declarations have been registered, the price of which was paid exclusively in cash and amounts to 462.49 million euros.
In addition, 41,741 property transfer declarations have been identified, the price of which was partially paid in cash and totaled €2.98 billion (the amount is the total for these declarations, because the amount paid in cash is not separately recorded).
With the special cross-checks they will launch, the two special directorates will investigate whether the money with which houses and plots of land were bought with cash is declared in the tax returns of the buyers, or if this concerned money laundering, or is a product of tax evasion.
Tax officers will proceed with the opening of bank accounts, while checking the income earned from salaries, business activity, rents, sales of real estate and other assets, parental concessions and money donations. [via kathimerini.com]
What does “…paid in cash” mean in this context?
Does it mean literally someone handing over a suitcase full of bank notes? That is my interpretation of “cash”. I thought there was a strict legal limit on the size of such transactions already, which is so small it would preclude real estate purchases.
Does it really mean that the purchaser has not needed to take out some form of credit, e.g. a mortgage, and can pay by bank transfer from their own existing resources?
“The tax administration’s moves are aimed at automating processes so that transfers are completed faster, the cases where tax evasion is suspected are scrutinized, and taxpayers and businesses are better served.”
Joke.
“First up are real estate sales, mainly those made with cash, parental concessions, donations, those exempt from ENFIA and the special real estate tax, as well as notaries, who will be checked for the correct application of the legislation on real estate transfers.”
Parental concessions – does that mean e.g. a father/mother gives a property to a child/children? If they really wanted to go after “donations” then perhaps look closely at virtually all “Philanthropic” enterprises where tax evasion and money laundering are mode du jour.
one more effort to bleed the little guy. the real dirty money comes right in the front door , laundered by the big banks themselves, and it doesnt come a few hundred or thousand at a time, but millions and billions. Funny how they can set up a whole new directorate to ‘investigate’ ordinary citizens buying property with savings, but they have no idea where the hundreds of millions went that were supposed to have paid for the train signalling upgrades , which never happened, and caused the horrific tempi disaster.
really not a single ordinary citizen should be audited or investigated until all the politicians and their dirty business are audited first!