The Ministry of Finance is in the process of preparing a study concerning the revision of corporate fees. This was announced by a representative of the ministry during a session of the parliamentary Trade Committee. Legislators have granted a few months for this undertaking, emphasizing that should this not take place, pending legislative proposals will be pushed forward.

The topic was raised in today's committee session. Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, the Chair of the Committee, mentioned that after the delay of the proposals by the plenary, the legislature is seeking clarity on the government's intentions. If no concrete steps are taken by the government, the issue will be brought before the plenary. It's noteworthy that the annual revenue from corporate fees ranges between €40 million and €50 million.

Mr. Hatzigiannis expressed concerns over the government's approach, accusing them of delaying or even obstructing decisions by the parliament. He stated the parliament's clear intent to phase out these fees gradually and emphasized that the government should devise ways to compensate for the potential loss in revenue over the next three years.

Speaking at the committee session, the Ministry of Finance representative detailed the ongoing preparation of the study related to the fee's revision. The preliminary direction, they highlighted, is to introduce a scaled fee based on the company's business volume. This entails no fees for dormant companies, with the fee decreasing up to a certain business threshold and then increasing progressively.

In response to a legislative proposal submitted by the AKEL party, which determines the fee based on a company's assets, the representative clarified that the ministry's proposal is based on a company's turnover. They elaborated that turnover is a more representative measure for imposing targeted fees since there are companies with minimal assets but a high business volume.

According to the representative's data, average annual collections hover around €40 million to €50 million. The goal is to limit losses to €15 million and find means to compensate for the rest.

Eirini Mylona-Chrysostomou, the Corporate Tax Collector, emphasized her department's responsibility in collecting these fees and implementing procedures for non-compliant companies. However, she also pointed out that fee collection is done uniformly for all companies. If future procedures intend to differentiate between company sizes and business cycles, it must be taken into consideration that the current system cannot discriminate. Changes in regulations or the responsible collecting body might be needed.

Several legislators underscored that this matter has been pending since 2017, stemming from legislation implemented during the economic crisis.

To recap, the committee reviewed the six legislative proposals that were previously postponed in the plenary session on September 21, as previously reported by Brief.