By G. Kouros
[email protected]
Greece’s independent public revenues authority is reportedly ready to finalize changes to the legal framework in order to make the opening of safety deposit boxes held in banks easier for tax authorities.
The idea is to locate euros, forex, jewelry and other valuables owned and stored in safe deposit boxes held by taxpayers with major arrears to the state. A deadline for presenting the changes to the finance ministry is Dec. 31, 2018.
Authorities today can demand that a bank to open a customer’s safety deposit box, although the current framework is much stricter than what the tax bureau wants, given that a court decision or a prosecutor’s order is necessary.
At present, only in rare instances is such a measure employed, and only for arrears to the state exceeding 1.5 million euros.
