The first payment of the greek property tax called ENFIA is due by the end of the month. Don’t worry. If you haven’t paid it by then there is a very small fine. For foreigners that own a house here on Skopelos but are not here now it is best to contact your accountant/lawyer and ask how the payments (5) or the whole amount at once, can be made. Some accountants/lawyers will send you an email explaining the situation.
The total tax for the property is divided into owners so if six people own it then it will be 6 separate bills ..
I found this document on the Taxation Office website: http://www.gsis.gr/gsis/export/sites/default/gsis_site/important_news/documents_inews/sepa.pdf
I am waiting for an accountant in Greece to confirm if the payment details are valid. If they are, we should be able to make payments ourselves though our internet bank outside of Greece if we live in euro zone countries.
I found this document on the Taxation Office website and waiting for an answer from an accountant in Greece to confirm if the payment information is valid (for us living in the EURO zone countries: http://www.gsis.gr/gsis/export/sites/default/gsis_site/important_news/documents_inews/sepa.pdf
Thank you for posting this information. I am one of six who legally own a small house in an even smaller village in Greece. It was in my late Mother’s Greek will – all legal. We have paid our ENFIA tax as we set all this in motion with an accountant while in Greece in August and we all have tax numbers etc.
Could I please check that I have understood everything correctly though. In August we paid approx. 42 euros EACH for the property tax (this was 6 times 42 euros) plus the accountants fees. Then on our return home, he emailed me he told us that we also had to pay again by the end of October another 42 euros EACH – plus his fees of course which all came to a total of 300 euros.
I did an international transfer to his account and paid him 300 euros for the tax for all six of us, plus his fees. Does this sound right to you? I don’t think the house in this little village is even worth 300 euros. I imagine that the first lot of payment in August was for past tax, and the tax paid a few weeks ago was for the next lot of tax so I can follow that perhaps two amounts were owing. Our accountant then emailed and told us that we have to contact him again in March for further payments.
Further I understood that these taxes are to be paid twice a year, and that again, if six of us owned the house, we have to pay six times.
I have asked our accountant in Greece for a receipt, but all he issued was a generic type document from the National Bank of Greece, which appeared to have no date, no name, no amount etc. In fact, when I did a bit of detective work on the computer and manipulated the image of the scan of the “receipt”, it is evident that some information has been erased/whited out. It simply says “This is a copy of the receipt”
I have emailed and asked our accountant for a “proper” receipt which shows our names/amounts/dates etc. and what the receipt is for, and then sent a further email as he had not responded … but he has not replied.
Could you please confirm that the ENFIA tax is multiplied by the number of owners of the house (that is 42 euros x 6 owners). And also that these taxes need to be paid twice a year.
I am not particularly fluent in Greek although I can speak and read it ok. I have been able to pay our DEI (Electricity accounts) online easily enough though.
I am rather hoping you would say that I could make these payments myself online directly to the Taxation Office and that they have an English version of their website, but I guess that is too much to hope for. If our accountant seems to be doing the right thing, I will stick with him. But he seems a bit dodgy to me.
What suggestions do you have?
When you sell your property the tax department checks that you have paid.The property goes into the buyers name and then he is charged the enfia for that property. I would however advise you to speak to your accountant to make sure he has updated your E9 form with the tax department. This shows that you no longer own the property.
The new owner probably but ask your accountant to make sure.The ENFIA is from Oktober 2015.
Which period does the latest ENFIA apply to? If I sold my house in May 2015 who is liable for the ENFIA
Vera
Thanks Mike – we’ll try to get one sorted on our next visit in the Spring.
Wendy – virtually everything is now done on line. Last week the Finance Ministry put up on it’s site details of about 6 million properties and the ENFIA due. To access your details at taxisnet.gr you need a code. You apply for that code at the local tax office – we still have a small one of two people who can help with many things. With the code you can access your details.
Does anybody on Skopelos have a power of attorney for you? They can probably apply for the code on your behalf.
But, I am thinking your property has not been registered with the tax authorities. That’s different to the local land registry. So that registration needs to be made first. Believe me, an accountant will make your life so much easier and simpler.
Thanks for the very kind offer to assist Mike. I will send you an email when I am at home after work later today. Many thanks.
P.S. to all – I have paid property tax previously – just trying to work out how to pay this year’s as I have no paperwork or demands to pay and only found out by reading this blog that the tax existed!
I didn’t say I had never paid or did not think I had to pay property tax – I realise and understand I do. I meant that as we have no income tax in Greece our lawyer told us we did not need to fill in a tax return and no longer needed his services hence why we don’t have a lawyer or accountant. Apologies for any confusion. What I am struggling with is finding out how I pay this and how much as I have never received any paperwork at my property from any tax authorities. I am sure I am not alone among expats with this dilemma? I suspect many who do not regularly trawl the net are oblivious too.
There is a reason why there are so many accountancy offices on the island and in Greece. Mike pointed out above, the tax laws are extremely fluid changing regularly or new laws and taxes being added to the pile. To keep on top of these changes an accountant to work on your behalf is a must.
This is good. We still know so many expats who insist that they do not need to pay any property tax and have simply never done so!
Just wanted to say thank you to this blog for doing a great job informing people about important issues like this one.
This isn’t income tax. The tax is on stuff that you own here in Greece. This ENIFA tax has to do with your house. There are other taxes too, for example on recreational boats above 5 meters in length. Greece is simply following the orders of the creditors to create pay back money as quickly as possible.
Wendy – nothing to do with double taxation agreement in Europe or tax on income. Everybody who owns a property in Greece, whether it be a million euro villa or a small piece of land in the mountains must pay a property tax. How much you pay depends on many things, but I promise if you have a small house in Skopelos town the tax demand will not break the bank. If you wish to get in touch see my previous post when it gets moderated.
Our lawyer interpreted the no need to fill in a return in that EU law says that you can’t be taxed twice on income ref double taxation rules so therefore as no income in Greece no need for a return? I have searched the internet on this issue and I can see how he would have come to that interpretation.
I assume not everyone has a lawyer or accountant so where do their letters re property tax demands get sent? We have had nothing (no letters or demands have been received at our property) requesting payment of a tax last year?
Wendy – if you wish, contact Daphne, very top of the page on right side, and she will pass me your email address and I will help where I can. As Donna says things have changed and right now they a seem to change on a weekly basis.
Nothing to get worried about, but you do need to do something.
Well that has changed and you pay it directly to the tax department. You need an accountant who will fill in the appropriate form describing the location, size etc. of your property. Furthermore, you still need to do fill out a tax declaration as you own property in Greece. Its a complicated system so you really do need an accountant. Meanwhile, you will have to pay efia for the previous year plus a fine for not having done so on time.
We have never done a tax return. We tried to do this several years ago and our lawyer at that time was adamant that as we have no income in Greece and spend less than 6 weeks per year there we did not need to complete a return. We paid the last property tax through our bank account via the electricity bill.
Wendy – how long have you had your property ? Have you never paid any tax ?
If you own property in Greece you should have a tax number on file (ΑΦΜ) with the government. This should identify you at the Ministry of Economy. An accountant or lawyer will need this number to discover how much you will owe.
There is a website (in Greek only unfortunately) from the Ministry of Economy here… http:// http://www.gsis.gr which should have some info but it is slow going as you’ll need to translate each page with an online translator.
Daphne, John – maybe we should print some names of local accountants who might be able to answer questions in English? Everyone with property here ought to have an accountant anyway.
Who has been doing your taxes in Greece every year? If nobody, then you need to get an accountant promptly.
I’ve looked online and all I can find is info about how this is proposed and their might be an exclusion for most people as if the objective value is less than 50,000 euros (which I think our property is) then we will be exempt in any event?
We don’t have an accountant or lawyer so wonder how we go about sorting payment?