The budget is expected to set a new historical record in VAT receipts in 2023.
More specifically, tax receipts exceeded the target by 805 million euros in the eight-month period, while the amount is expected to exceed 23 billion euros by the end of the year.
The increased consumption mainly due to tourism, the very high prices due to inflation, the maintenance of the rates at the highest levels in the EU, but also the continuous growth of electronic payments are the main four reasons.
With the measures being promoted – interconnection of cash registers with POS, electronic invoices, etc.- it is expected that the proportion of indirect taxes in the total tax revenues will be further strengthened. The percentage has already exceeded 60% and would be even higher if there was not a significant increase in the personal income tax. The latter is attributed to the increase in nominal incomes, combined with the non-indexation adjustment of the tax scale.
In the eight months, tax revenues amounted to 39.838 billion euros, up by 3.344 billion euros or 9.2% compared to the target included in the indicative report of the 2023 budget. Part of this increase, amounting to approximately 470 million euros, concerns the extension of the deadline for the payment of traffic fees until the end of February 2023, while it was estimated that this amount would be collected in December 2022. The remaining amount comes from the better performance of the income taxes of natural and legal persons of the previous year which were collected in installments until the end of February 2023, as well as from the best performance in the collection of taxes this year.
