Option for spouses to submit separate tax declarations

Spouses will now be able to submit separate income tax declarations if they so wish, following a verdict by the Council of State, and will then be able to receive separate tax clearance documents too.

The decision by the second section of the country’s highest administrative court has ruled that “there is no reason, or any obvious reason of public interest at that, to justify the compulsory submission of a common income tax statement by both spouses.”

To date a separate statement submission was possible only for couples who had separated, or in cases where one of the two was in a state of bankruptcy.

After the CoS decision, anyone who wants to have a separate statement will have to inform the tax authorities about it in advance. The benefit of that is that in cases where, for example, one spouse has tax dues of 1,000 euros and the other is owed a rebate of the same amount, these will not be offset against each other; the rebate should be paid out immediately and the tax dues in three tranches.

Source: ekathimerini.com