Tax clearance certificate – What to expect in 2022

The Independent Authority for State Revenue (AADE) is getting ready for a big change in the issuance of a tax clearance certificate in order to improve and simplify it for the convenience of taxpayers in their transactions and especially in cases involving real estate transfers or the collection of money from the public sector. The Independent Authority for State Revenue (AADE) in order to identify the problems faced by companies, freelancers and individuals whenever they ask to receive a tax clearance certificate launched a public debate aimed at recording distortions and reforming and simplifying the regulatory framework for issuing the tax clearance certificate. The Independent Authority for State Revenue (AADE) requests thirty minutes of time from citizens, social partners and institutions to answer its questions, to record experiences and to submit their proposals for improving the regulatory framework for issuing tax information. Through the questions, the Independent Authority for State Revenue (AADE) is trying to understand whether the taxpayers are informed about its digital services. Based on the answers, the Authority will evaluate the current system and will take corrective actions. Every taxpayer can find the questionnaire at www.aade.gr/afe and answer anonymously and in full compliance with the rules of personal data protection.

The 35 key questions of the research that will last until Tuesday, January 11, 2022 and which give an indication of intentions by the Independent Authority for State Revenue (AADE) are the following:

1. Do you know that, if you do not have debts, you can automatically receive the tax clearance certificate through the Independent Authority for State Revenue certificate issuance request on the myAADE digital portal (myaade.gov.gr)?

2. Do you know that you can submit a request for a tax clearance certificate through the application “My Requests” on the digital portal myAADE (myaade.gov.gr)?

3. Have you requested, by e-mail, the issuance of a tax clearance certificate?

4. Do you consider the digital possibilities for submitting a request and issuing a tax clearance certificate so far to be user-friendly?

5. In case you requested the issuance of a tax clearance cerificate in one of the above digital ways and the processing of your request was required by the competent Tax Office, how long did it take for the service to respond to your request?

6. In case you sybmitted digitally your tax clearance certificate request, how did you receive it?

7. In case your request for the electronic issuance of your tax clearance certificate was rejected, did you receive the information needed, through the digital services of the Independent Authority for State Revenue, about the reason for the rejection?

8. In your experience, what are the most common reasons the issuance of an electronic tax clearance certificate  can be rejected (other than the existence of overdue unsettled debts)?

9. If you have selected “Suspension of overdue debts that have been certified against a third party, for the payment of which the applicant is co-responsible”, please specify the reason / type of suspension.

10. In case you have chosen more than one answer to the question for the “reasons why the electronic issuance of the tax clearance certificate is rejected”, please classify the reasons in order of frequency (from most to least frequent).

11. In case you had to come (you or the person on whose behalf you acted) to the competent Tax Office to request the issuance of the tax clearance certificate, please specify why your physical presence was required.

12. Prior to your physical presence at the competent Tax Office, did you receive an e-mail or a request through the “My Requests” application?

13. During your arrival at the competent Tax Office, did you encounter any difficulties in order to be given the tax clearance certificate?

14. During your visit to the Tax Office, was your request for a tax clearance certificate processed immediately?

Real estate transfer

15. Has your electronic request for the issuance of the tax clearance cerificate been rejected in case of overdue or non-overdue debts (individual and co-responsibility) under 30 euros?

16. In case of non-overdue debts under 5,000 euros, without an existing audit order, have you encountered any practical difficulties with the electronic issuance of your tax clearance certificate, despite the fact that all the legal conditions for the issuance of a certificate of awareness were met?

17. In case of non-overdue debts over 5,000 euros, was your request for the issuance of your tax clearance certificate rejected during the visit to the Tax Office, despite the fact that all the legal conditions for the issuance of the certifiacte were met?

18. In case a withholding condition is set, when issuing the certificate for the purpose of real estate transfer or establishment of a real right in real estate (ie for overdue debts that are in settlement), have you encountered any practical difficulties during this process?

19. In case you had debts to other public bodies (e.g. Municipality), did these debts prevent the issuance of the tax clearance certificate?

20. In case you came to the Tax Office for the issuance of the tax clearance certificate for the purpose of transferring real estate or establishing a right in rem on a property for valuable consideration, was your request for the issuance of a certificate of awareness processed immediately by the competent Tax Office?

21. In addition to the above, have you identified any other difficulties related to the issuance (electronically or not) of the tax clearance certificate for the purpose of transferring real estate or establishing a right in rem over real estate?

Collection of money from public sector bodies

22. In case of overdue debts, have you encountered practical difficulties in the electronic issuance of a tax clearance certificate specifically for the collection of money from public sector bodies other than Central Administration, despite the fact that all the legal conditions for the issuance of a tax clearance certificate were met?

23. In case a withholding condition was set during the issuance of the tax clearance certifiacte for the purpose of collecting money from public sector bodies (ie for overdue debts that are in settlement), in your experience, is the minimum withholding rate applied?

24. If not, was the reason for the increased percentage notified to you by the competent Tax Office?

25. In case a withholding condition is set when issuing the tax clearance certificate for the purpose of collecting money from public sector bodies (ie these are overdue debts that are in settlement), have you identified any difficulties during this procedure?

26. In case of existence of your debts to other public bodies (e.g. Municipality), did the existence of these debts prevent the issuance of a tax clearance certificate?

27. In case of your arrival at the Tax Office for the issuance of a tax clearance certificate in order to collect money from public bodies, was your request for a tax clearance certificate immediately processed?

28. In addition to the above, have you identified any other practical difficulties that are specifically related to the issuance (electronically or not) of the tax clearance certificate for the purpose of collecting money from public sector bodies?

15. Has your electronic request for the issuance of the tax clearance cerificate been rejected, in case of overdue or non-overdue debts (individual and co-responsibility) under 30 euros?

30. In case of overdue debts that are in regulation or suspension, was it possible to issue a receipt of information electronically or were you forced to go (you or the person you represented) to the Tax Office?

31. During your arrival (yours or the person you represented) to the Tax Office, was your request for a tax clearance cerificate processed immediately?

32. In case of existence of your debts to other public bodies (e.g. Municipality), did the existence of these debts prevent the issuance of your tax clearance certificate?

33. Apart from the above, have you identified any other practical difficulties in case of issuance (electronically or not) of your tax clearance certificate for any reason (except in cases of transfer of real estate/establishment of real rights in real estate and collection of money from public sector bodies)?

34. Your request for a tax clearance certificate has been rejected in principle for a reason related to your capacity as a legal person or due to your entire liability for legal entity debts, even though the latter are not overdue or are in active regulation or suspension.

35.In addition to the above, have you identified any other difficulties or practical issues in applying for a tax clearance certificate due to the liability of a legal entity?