ENFIA Real Estate Tax to Be Introduced in Parliament Thursday

The Real Estate Single Ownership Tax (ENFIA) amendment including the official number of payment installments and corrective amounts for 4,000 communities are expected to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday, so they may be discussed by Friday, according to statements made to the press by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis after exiting the last of several meetings he attended under the leadership of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, on Monday evening.

According to reports, the question of whether real estate that is not currently inhabited and is not being supplied with electricity will get a tax discount, will be settled pending certain conditions. The tax reduction in such cases is expected to be no more than 20 percent on the assessed tax, they said.

Finance ministry sources said that Hardouvelis has requested of the General Secretariat for Public Revenue to examine alternatives for the loss of tax revenues to the state which amounts to 50 million euros. Deputies and coalition partner officials have asked for a reduction ranging from 25 percent to 30 percent, a rate considered too high in terms of the fiscal budget, as it would amount to a loss of 100 million euros to the state and is therefore prohibitive.