The Ministry of National Economy and Finance welcomes 2024 with two bills that will be put to public consultation in the next few days.
The first one concerns the management of the coastline and beaches, while the second one will concern the incorporation of an EU Directive into national law. The directive, which emerged after the OECD agreement on the fair taxation of multinationals, sets a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on the multinationals’ profits. Both bills will be on the agenda in this year’s first cabinet meeting.
The Ministry of National Economy & Finance will also put for public consultation the bill for the management of beaches in order to solve a series of problems, including the sunbed overload.
The main aims of the bill are the achievement of a comprehensive and digital recording of the public coastal lands and the imposition of stricter conditions on the concession of the beach, with conditions that will ensure accessibility by citizens but also with prices that will not affect the public interest. Also, it is planned to create new digital tools, with the help of modern technology, which will help both the public and the citizens in detecting irregularities on the beach. In this way, construction violations along the coastal zone are expected to be dealt with.
Tax on multinationals
Another bill that will be put to public consultation in the next period of time is the new framework for establishing a minimum tax rate of 15% on large multinational companies and large-scale groups. It concerns the incorporation into Greek legislation of the European Directive 2022/2523 through which an end is put to the tax practices of multinational companies that allowed them to transfer their profits to countries with zero or very low taxation.
This is a directive that emerged after the agreement in the OECD by 140 states and entered into force on January 1 in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Canada. Countries that are considered tax havens for multinationals, such as Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the islands of Barbados, which previously had a corporate tax rate of around 5.5%, also participate.
