Greek PM: More Covid-19 Relief for Wage-earners, Businesses

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In an attempt to relieve Greek households and reignite the economy in the aftermath of Covid-19, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced five new support measures including tax breaks and insurance cuts on Thursday.

“Our primary concern after addressing the health crisis is the rapid recovery of the economy,” said Mitsotakis announcing five measures “which will form the basis, the foundation, for a decisive return”.

The aim, he said, is for the measures to enable companies that have suffered losses during the pandemic to be able to return to financial stability again, Mitsotakis said, adding that the new round of support will provide the necessary liquidity to get the economy rolling and boost the country’s potential for a dynamic recovery as well as attract investments.

More specifically, the five measures are:

1. Self-employed professionals will as of this year pay a reduced tax advance (prepaid taxes for the year ahead) down to 55 percent from 100 percent.

2. The annual tax advance is reduced for business entities from 100 percent to 80 percent as of 2022.

3. The taxation rate is reduced from 24 percent to 22 percent as of 2022 (tax year 2021) for all individual and legal entities.

4. Insurance contributions for employees in the private sector are down by three percentage points into 2022.

5. The private sector is also exempt of the special “solidarity tax” in 2022.

Mitsotakis made the announcement following an interministerial teleconference earlier today.