With this new law (EnFIA) that has replaced the older tax haratsi (collected through the electricity bills), every person (resident of Australia, Greece or wherever in the world) owning real estate property in Greece, is subject to this new law.

Property includes the full ownership, the life estate (epikarpia), the remainder (psili kyriotita), the inheritance rights etc, in full title or in undivided interest (joint ownership) on houses, units, lots, rural properties, parking rights etc, owned on the 1st of January of each year, irrespective of whether any income is generated/collected or not.

This new taxation is over and above the already applying and collected yearly council rates.

This tax’s calculation is a very complex procedure based on various factors, including the property’s location, dimensions, age, face on the street(s), use, etc.

Properties of substantial value (more than 300,000 euros) incur an additional tax.

The data base used by the Tax Authority for the calculation of this tax is www.gsis.gr (known in the past as taxisnet), created through the Ε9 tax returns.

It is worth mentioning that if the E9 statement has missing information, then this could be to the detriment of the tax payer, since the Tax Authority will employ the most severe factors. Eg.: if the E9 statement does not mention the floor on which the unit is located, then the highest factor of the 6th floor will be used (which is the maximum ratio).

Another tricky part is the fact that all property heirs are taxed, irrespective of whether they have probated the Will/Estate. So, even if an heir is not interested in inheriting the Greek property, he will still be taxed if he does not denounce the estate promptly. This is of great interest to Greek Australians that have not proceeded with the required legal actions for their inherited property in Greece. Non-action might create a tax obligation here.

A tax reduction is provided to low income earners (less than 9,500 euros), with poor financial situation, owning property of less than 150 square metres and without debts to the tax authority.

It seems that the thorough, fair and careful drafting of this new law leaves a lot to be desired. The many mistakes at the initial tax requests compel the Greek government to reconsider various provisions.

New tax requests are anticipated by mid-September. The tax is payable in 6 monthly instalments. Attention is drawn to the prompt payment of the instalments. A two (2) month delay may create an additional raise of 12.73 per cent.

As a final remark: property owners may modify/correct their ownership status without any penalties by the end of November 2014.

At the time, upon receipt of the tax requests, prompt payment should be effected, after they are carefully reviewed by an experienced tax accountant.

* John Tripidakis is a Greek lawyer, currently in Australia representing the Greek law firm John Tripidakis & Associates.