Employees remain the wealthiest Greeks according to the analysis of data from the 2024 tax returns (income earned in 2023).

The self-employed are now in 2nd place, mainly due to the change in the way they are taxed (presumptive determination) and not because they declared higher incomes, while pensioners are marginally further down.

The total additional amount collected by the public from the new method of taxation in 2024, compared to 2023, amounts to approximately 440 million.

One of the most notable findings is that all categories of taxpayers declared higher income, with the exception of the self-employed who were taxed by imputed income.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that only 263 people contested the result of the liquidation, a percentage of 0.006% of those liable under the presumption.

According to sources from the Ministry of Finance, the results of the clearing of tax returns show that the new self-employment tax law imposed a fairer tax distribution system and succeeded in broadening the tax base.

The settlement of this year’s declarations results in an increase in the incomes of both employees and pensioners as well as freelancers. However, self-employed people covered by the presumption reported less income this year compared to last year, while those exceeding it reported increased income.

In particular:

• Taxpayers who fall under the presumption declared an average annual income of 3,215 euros (268 euros per month).
• Taxpayers who do not fall under the presumption declared an average annual income of 15,013 euros (1,251 euros per month).

Based on the data resulting from the analysis of the incomes of the three main categories (salaried, retired, self-employed), the average declared income is:

• For employees: 16,470 euros.
• For freelancers: 13,901 euros.
• For pensioners: 13,333 euros.

It is worth noting that the declared incomes do not cover the already applicable living standards for the self-employed category, in contrast to employees and pensioners. Imposing the presumptive mode of taxation shows that the average presumptive cost of living for entrepreneurs decreases, indicating that the calculated minimum income adequately covers living costs.

With regard to the average tax, it is observed for the first time that the self-employed with an average tax of 2,472 euros surpass the employees, for whom the average tax amounts to 1,816 euros.

In detail:

• The average tax for self-employed persons covered by the presumption amounts to 1,733 euros.
• The average tax for freelancers who exceed the presumption amounts to 3,423 euros.

The average total charge, including the presumption fee (which has been reduced by 50%), amounts to €1,733 plus €325 (presumption fee), i.e. €2,058 for those covered by the presumption, and €3,748 (€3,423 + 325 euros) for those who exceed it.

Compared to 2023, the average tax of self-employed persons subject to the presumption under the previous regime was 595 euros plus 650 euros pretense fee, i.e. 1,245 euros. Therefore, the average additional tax amounts to 813 euros per year.

The additional tax that self-employed people who are not covered by the presumption have to pay amounts to €147, accompanied by a total income increase of €277 million.

According to sources from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, with the imminent abolition of the presumption fee, the average tax of freelancers covered by the presumption will amount to 1,733 euros, that is, it will be 83 euros less than that of the average employee.

It is worth noting that before the new law was passed, 71% of freelancers declared an income below the minimum wage. At the same time, 4% of the self-employed (just 29,000) paid 50% of the taxes corresponding to the category, while 172,000 self-employed people paid less than €500 a year in tax.

Few challenged the presumption on tax returns

It is also worth mentioning the fact that, despite the reactions of many to the new way of taxing freelancers, few went ahead to challenge it, as they had the right to do.

From the data it appears that 4,357 natural persons declared their intention to dispute the presumption out of the 401,072 (percentage of 1.08%) that are liquidated under Article 28A, out of a total of 712,649 claimants (percentage of 0.61%).

However, of these, very few freelancers ultimately filed to challenge the presumption. Through the special application for Article 28A, there have been 366 submissions for para. 3 (challenge for objective reasons) and 263 submissions for para. 4 (challenge with a request for an audit), which proves that no major phenomena of injustice are observed from the new system.

The same sources of the Ministry commented on the result of the tax declarations, stating that the new way of taxing the self-employed constitutes a fairer taxation system, since, after many years, employees and pensioners will pay a lower tax than the self-employed, without the latter having are overburdened compared to previous years.

Source: ot.gr