eKathimerini — Consumers will need to hold on to all their receipts for commodities and services, at least for now, with a bill including the regulations clarifying the issue expected to go before Parliament in the coming days, Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis said on Thursday. He emphasized that the legislation represents the key tool in the government’s plan for all amounts cited in tax declarations to be backed up by bank transactions.
“Regarding which receipts we should hold on to in 2016, we must keep all receipts,” said Alexiadis. “Enterprises also have the obligation to issue receipts, as we have the obligation to hold on to them. We will introduce a regulation that will implement what we have repeatedly announced, that is the expansion of bank transactions and the obligation for every modification, every amount included in the income tax declaration to be justified by a bank transaction,” he noted.
According to the ministry’s plan, taxpayers will only be able to attain the tax-free threshold by paying for goods and services via credit and debit cards or through the banking system. Sources say that the banks will send the General Secretariat for Public Revenues data on taxpayers’ expenditure through credit and debit cards in their name. This will be done online, so that once the system is up and running taxpayers should not need to hold on to the receipts they have collected for their card transactions.
In response to a question as to what taxpayers should do with their piles of receipts amassed over previous years, Alexiadis responded that the ministry will issue a statement that will clarify the matter in the next few days. “We will make it clear for which year and for which categories taxpayers should keep their receipts, because we wish to have consistent taxpayers as our allies in the effort we are making,” he stated.
It is noted that receipts collected in 2015 will be of no use to taxpayers, as the 2016 tax declaration form will not provide an entry for their sum.
