ALERT for Greek Tax Residents - Pay Out

[Carolina]

Κοινωνικό μέρισμα
ALERT FOR GREEK TAX RESIDENTS

A one –off social dividend will be given in December to about 3.4 million households in Greece with low and middle incomes.

The right to receive this one-off special payment will be paid to those taxpayers in Greece who held real estate property of less than €180,000 on 1-1-2017 and with household (family) incomes up to 18,000 euros p.a. in 2016.

The procedure is simple and all electronic (but in Greek only) – got to http://www.koinonikomerisma.gr and sign in with your TAXISNET username and password, followed by your AFM and AMKA number. Fill in the missing details, including the IBAN number for your bank account, email address and telephone number, and the page will advise if you are eligible and how much for.

Amounts paid out will vary between 250 euros and 900 euros per household.

The cut off date to apply is 12th DECEMBER and payments will be made before Christmas, directly to bank accounts.

It's worth going on the site and checking even if you think you are above the income bracket or your property is worth above 180,000 euros. A few clicks will tell you whether or not you are entitled to it.

[bettyboo]

I asked my accountant about this today, we would have qualified for 400 and 300 euro each but.. there is a ceiling on amount of money you have in your Greek bank account/s...9,000 euro. We have more because of a house sale and we didn't transfer all the money back to the UK .

[jane clayton]

We asked ours too, and he said 'no' the ceiling is 13500 for a couple for 2016...is he correct?

[bettyboo]

Our Accountant entered our details onto the system and 9000 came up, maybe it's different depending on your own circumstances I don't know

[Kilkis]

It depends on family circumstances. For a single person the income limit is €9,000 and the property value limit is €120,000. This rises to a household income limit of €13,500 for a couple without children and then by an additional €2,250 per child. The property value limit rises by €15,000 for each additional member of the household. The figures quoted by Caroline would be for a couple with two children. See this ekathimerini article from 20/11/2017.

Warwick

[bettyboo]

Things were lost in translation I thought the accountant meant amount of money in bank not annual income, I don't qualify as even tho my income is lower than 9000 euro , money transferred from UK counts as income which puts me over that threshold

[Kilkis]

I am not sure I understand that, Bettyboo. The social dividend is only payable to people who are tax resident in Greece. If you are tax resident in Greece you should declare your worldwide income to the Greek tax authority and how much of that income you transfer to Greece should be irrelevant? If your income is paid into one bank and you then transfer some or all of it to another bank you haven't doubled your income.

If you are registered as not tax resident in Greece, as many people are, then you don't qualify for the social dividend. The social dividend is returning some of the income tax collected back to those who were least able to pay it. Obviously if you are not tax resident then you don't pay income tax in Greece so you don't warrant a refund.

Warwick

[bettyboo]

I'm tax resident and declare worldwide income, wages and money transferred into Greece, I need to clarify it again with Accountant, I transferred more than 9000 over so thought that's reason for not being eligible, I'll speak to him again

[Kilkis]

I'm tax resident and declare worldwide income, wages and money transferred into Greece,...

If you are tax resident in Greece I am not sure why you are declaring money transferred into Greece? Money simply transferred from a UK bank account to a Greek bank account is not income. I am not an accountant but as far as I am aware your worldwide income is what gets paid to you by other organisations. For example I receive pensions in the UK, pensions in Greece, bank interest, interest from other investments etc. It all gets reported to the Greek tax authority. Some of it is assessed for tax in Greece and some of it remains taxable in the UK, in accordance with the Double Taxation Agreement. All of it, both taxed and untaxed, counts as my income and is assessed for the solidarity tax here. At no time do I report what I transfer to Greece. Where I store my assets and where and when I move them is no business of the Greek tax authority.

It is different for people who are not tax resident here. Clearly they are living here so have outgoings. If they have no income here where does the money come from to pay for their outgoings? They have to declare money transferred into Greece to meet their outgoings or the tax authority will assume they have earnings here and are hiding them.

The two cases are mutually exclusive. This issue also confuses the banks. They have to reconcile activity on your bank account with your income. If the only way money comes into your account is in the form of transfers from the UK they start asking for proof of income in the UK. Once you convince them that you are tax resident in Greece and declaring your worldwide income here all they need is your Greek tax statement. They deal with so many ex-pats who are not tax resident here convincing them can be difficult.

Warwick

[bettyboo]

I declare Greek earnings and provide certificates of interest for the tax authority, id assumed that the money I've transferred to Greece from UK must have counted as income as I didn't qualify for the dividend but that's been confirmed it doesn't, my accountant asks for the information but it doesn't have anything to do with my tax return, I think it's information he keeps in my file .

There were 3 stipulations to qualify for the dividend, one was not exceeding income of 9000 euro for a single person, the second the value of property not exceeding s certain amount and the third, you mustn't have had more than 81 euro in interest in your Greek bank account/s for 2016... I exceeded it by 5 euro therefore I am not able to receive the payment!

So it did depend on how much money is in your bank but not how I was thinking.

[Kilkis]

Blimey! You must have a generous bank? Typically I get between €1 and €2 for the year. The last payment, for the half year up to the end of June, was €0.71 less €0.11 tax. That was with around €14,000 on deposit so to get that up to €42 for the half year I would have needed to have €840,000 on deposit.

Warwick

PS The bank interest limit was not mentioned in any of the reports I read.

[bettyboo]

I was thinking it was generous, I kept money here from a house sale but it was a village house not a 2 million euro villa .. someone has probably done a typo and it should have been 8.50 not 85 !

Yes I was surprised that amount of interest was one of the conditions, seems a bit odd

[bettyboo]

It's the interest from savings that are on the certificates of interest that is entered on tax return, over 81 euro and you miss out

[Kilkis]

What certificates of interest? I collect certificates of interest paid from investments in the UK but I have never collected anything in Greece. The amount of interest paid and tax deducted on Greek accounts appears automatically on my tax statement. My accountant doesn't enter it because he has never asked for the information and I have never told him how much it was.

Warwick

[bettyboo]

Sorry, should have said UK certificates

In telephone conversation with accountant he asked for Greek bank account number to check my eligibility on the computer system so when he mentioned bank interest I assumed he meant my Greek account, not the amount of interest entered on my tax return from certificates from bank accounts outside Greece .