A permanent regulation for undeclared square meters is planned by the government in the context of facilitating property transfers.
Citizens will have a new opportunity to reveal to municipalities the real surface area of properties without being burdened with exorbitant back-to-back municipal taxes, fees, surcharges and fines.
The new provision is being prepared by the Ministry of the Interior and is expected to be submitted to the Parliament within 2022, according to recent statements by the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Stelios Petsas.
Property owners will once again be able to electronically submit overdue initial or amendment declarations to municipalities across the country showing the actual square footage of their properties and avoiding retroactive fees.
The new regulation for the declaration of "forgotten" square footage will be accompanied by a penalty of at least 20%. That is, the additional amounts of municipal taxes and fees corresponding to the additional square meters for the period from January 1, 2020 onwards will be increased by 20%, while it is not excluded that the penalty will increase depending on the time of submission of the overdue declaration. However, property owners will be spared exorbitant retroactive fees of up to 200%.
Online platform
In order to implement the new regulation, the electronic application of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Digital Governance and the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece will be reactivated for the submission of overdue initial or corrective statements by the owners concerned.
Stelios Petsas announcing the new permanent regulation for undeclared square footage stated that "it is beneficial to have a platform for undeclared square footage so that someone can declare the square footage of their building if they have not declared it". However, he pointed out that this creates a moral hazard: believing that something like this will always be open and, therefore, not needing to run to do it. "He who has been late in declaring the square footage of his residence on a relevant platform should not be in the same fate as someone who is consistent, for that he has to pay something more", he added and informed that there is discussion to have such a permanent mechanism for the undeclared square footage that will not do injustice to the consistent citizen.
The overdue ones
According to information, the electronic platform for the submission of late declarations of the real surfaces of the properties in the municipalities will work at the electronic address https://tetragonika.govapp.gr.
Property owners who did not join the two previous arrangements, or those who have found errors on the surface of their properties and want to correct them, will have the opportunity when the online platform opens to submit overdue declarations. By submitting the declarations they will be completely exempt from retroactive municipal taxes and municipal fees for periods of time prior to 2020.
The amounts of municipal taxes and fees corresponding to the new larger area of the properties will be increased by at least 20% depending on the time of disclosure of the "forgotten" square meters.
The reopening of the platform of undeclared square meters in combination with the abolition of the TAP certificate for real estate transfers that the government is considering, as well as the activation of the Electronic Real Estate File, are expected to facilitate real estate transfers, which have recently been on an upward trajectory.
SOURCE: www.michanikos-online.gr