Good news for everyone planning to buy or sell property in Greece! The process of filling out and filing the real estate transfer tax declaration now takes no more than fifteen minutes.

These statistics were derived from an analysis of the use of the myProperty platform ( https://myproperty.aade.gov.gr ) of the Independent State Tax Administration. When filing a real estate tax declaration in digital format, the procedure is maximally fast.

How the pandemic affected the work of the tax service

Before the pandemic, part of the process took place offline. The client would come to the notary's office and the notary would draw up the declaration for him on his computer. The seller and buyer then signed the declaration together at the notary's office. The buyer and seller had to visit the tax office together, where they had to wait in line to file a declaration. The transition to digital format has been a significant breakthrough from which all parties have benefited.

The myProperty platform was launched at a time when the demand for the real estate transfer service was increasing dramatically. In the first quarter of the year, the country saw the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. In the offices of the tax service, at best, half of the employees were present. At the same time, the volume of documents received by the service remained at the level of 2019 (that is, about 53,000). Despite the fact that the size of the staff decreased by half, the tax officials successfully processed the declarations of transfers, parental payments and documents related to inheritance.

In order to protect the population and make the work of employees easier, the tax service established a new order of procedures. The processing time per employee decreased by half. However, approximately 6,500 applications are still pending. Roughly 5,000 of these documents are translations.

Benefits of using the myProperty platform

The digital integration of translations through myProperty allows the tax service to allocate its resources more efficiently. The staff, cut by the pandemic, may focus on other transactions.

Notaries and taxpayers benefit from not having to go to public places in the midst of a pandemic. They also save a lot of time.