The European Commission announced that Greece accepted the proposals for the Greek shipping tax regime that it had put forward.
Specifically, as stated in the relevant announcement, Greece accepted on 14 November 2024 the measures that had been proposed to it a few days earlier.
The European Commission noted Greece’s acceptance of the measures proposed to align the existing Greek tonnage tax regime and the relevant measures with the State aid rules.
Furthermore, it recognized the importance of maintaining competitiveness in Europe’s maritime transport sector by giving Member States the possibility to tax shipping companies based on tonnage (i.e. based on the size of their fleet).
By its proposal of 6 November 2024, the Commission decided to partially amend the December 2015 proposal concerning certain tax advantages for dividends and capital gains of shipping companies, as well as the operation of various types of ships, while insisting, however, that these measures are incompatible with the internal market. At the same time, the European Commission no longer considered it appropriate to propose measures in relation to the inheritance tax exemption. It is recalled that in December 2015, the European Commission had sent a package of proposals to Greece to ensure that state support to the shipping sector in the country complies with EU state aid rules, in particular with the Maritime Transport Guidelines.
