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The ministry of Finance is considering of up to 50% decrease of the nontaxable yearly income. Until now citizens who declare an yearly income of less than 12 000 euro did not pay tax. The offer that the value should decrease to 6 000 euro came after the introduction of the mandatory collection of checks since the beginning of 2010 announced last week by the minister of finance Georgios Papakonstantinou. The ministry offers nontaxable ceiling to stay 12 000 euro only in case the taxpayers submit in the tax administration checks for 6 000 euro. The decrease of the taxable yearly income and collection of primary accounting papers directly linked to one another. The two measures are part of the governmental program PASOK for fight with the corruption and the grey economy in Greece.

In an interview for the press minister Papakonstantinou explained: “The taxpayer will not submit the collected checks in the tax office. We have prepared a special paragraph in the income form that the citizens can fill up the BULSTAT of the trader/corporation, the value of the service/good and the date when the purchase has been made. In this way it will be easier for the ministry to complete necessary verifications and exclude the possibility that one and the same check has been used more that once in a tax form.  

According to experts the state is loosing billions of euro each year by concealed and improper presentation of the income of private people and companies. For the 2008 tax year around 5 million citizens have declared of annual income less than 12 000 euro which is about 80% of the taxpayers in Greece. The long-term practice shows that the biggest part of the self employed like doctors, dentists, technicians and tradesmen do not account for their incomes correctly and the yearly tax form shows an amount close to the nontaxable minimum.