ENFIA unchanged, back in October
ekathimerini.com, 18 August 2015

By October at the latest the new ENFIA property tax bills will be available online with the first installment payable by the end of the same month, Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis said in comments to a Greek radio station at the start of the week.

Alexiadis pointed out that the 2015 ENFIA tax has the same revenue target as it did before the new deal was reached with the country's creditors. This means the Finance Ministry will still aim to collect €2.65 billion even though SYRIZA had pledged to reduce or scrap the tax completely only a few months ago.

The alternate minister stressed that efforts had been made to change the tax structure during negotiations, but to no avail, and that the relief for citizens would not be as great as had been hoped for.

The value of assets on which the tax is calculated will remain the same. "We do not have time to change them in this tax year. In a subsequent review, by 2016, we will examine them all," Alexiadis said.

The ENFIA tax will be payable in five installments from the end of October to the start of February 2016. The 20% discount for uninhabited properties and those without electricity remains.

The exemption for properties belonging to the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) will be abolished, generating an additional 1.5 million euros.

Alexiadis said there would be changes to the 2016 tax structure to make it fairer and more proportionate. "Regarding property values, we must proceed to a system of real value in the interest of justice as well as for development purposes."