HOWTO No 4 - Our Guide To Obtaining A Tax Number In Corfu And Trying To Keep On The Right Side Of The Greek Tax Authority!
If you take the plunge and move to Corfu, one of the first realities of life will soon hit you - Taxes! For example, to obtain a telephone or register your car, you will require a tax number. There are certain aspects of the Greek system which I applaud. For example, if you own and run a car, where do you get the income to do this? The same applies to phones and other utilities. Coming, as we do, from a country where people are evading their tax whilst others can't seem to avoid it, this seems an eminently sensible approach!
Note
There are a number of circumstances that affect your liability to UK tax
which are beyond the scope of this guide. You should consult the Inland Revenue
to establish your own position with regards to your liability. A useful source
of information in the 1st instance is the Inland Revenue website - www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.
Double Taxation
'Double taxation' occurs when tax is charged by both the United
Kingdom and another country on the same income. A double taxation agreement is an arrangement between the UK
and another country, which aims to prevent or give relief for, double taxation*.
The United Kingdom has a double taxation
agreement with Greece.
*Source: Inland Revenue Document IR 138 -Living Or Retiring Abroad, A guide to your UK income and pension.
This guide sets out how we have obtained a Greek tax number and sought to keep on the right side of the Greek tax authority. It is based upon the experience of others.
Buying Land Or A Property In 'Joint' Names
We
have been advised that if both you and your husband/wife/partner etc wish to
purchase land or property in joint names, you must BOTH have a
Greek tax number
Obtaining
A Tax Number In Corfu
This involves a visit to the nomarkia in Corfu Town. Go to the
first floor and find office number 3. You will require your passport. My experience
was that the staff there were very helpful and had a better grasp of English
than I had of Greek! They assisted by completing the form which requires your
personal details, your address in Corfu and your parents names.
You then receive a printout showing amongst other things, your tax number. Quite painless! The whole process took me 50 minutes which included wandering about until I discovered the correct office and standing in the obligatory queue which you will find is a way of life in these sort of places!
Open Bank Accounts
In Greece
Submitting your tax returns on time will keep
the Greek tax man happy! However, if like us, you do not receive any income in
Greece other than that which has been tax-paid in the UK (eg a pension), you
will need to demonstrate that your income has indeed come from such a source,
thereby avoiding being taxed twice.
The following suggested course of action is for those who like us pay a regular amount which originates from a sterling source in the UK into a Greek bank account. (In our case a Barclays bank account into which my pension is paid.) Note! If however, you occasionaly transfer sums electronically, direct from the UK using the 'Swift' system see the notes at the end of this document.
If you do not possess one, obtain a Sterling bank account AND a Euro bank account with a Greek bank. Which bank is purely a matter for the individual. I am not in a position to recommend any bank in particular. Tricia and I chose Alphabank for no other reason than a Greek friend banks with them and introduced us to the manager!
Having opened your Sterling bank account, you then need to deposit some cash into the account! We merely wrote a cheque from our UK bank account and deposited it. You will soon begin to realise that things happen differently in Greek banks than they do in the UK. Firstly, we received a pass book, similar to that issued by building societies in the UK. We were then told that the funds deposited would take 20 days to clear as the transaction is all done by post! Oh yes, that is 20 WORKING DAYS, excluding bank holidays and weekends! Ie. At least a month!
Now that you have your bank accounts set up and funds cleared in the sterling account, you should transfer the money that you intend living on into Euro account ENSURING THAT YOU RECEIVE A PINK SLIP . This is required to satisfy the Greek tax authority how the funds came to be in Greece and that they are from a tax - paid source. They will accept nothing else. If the account is in joint names as is ours, we have been advised to ensure that both names appear on the pink slip.
I must confess that we made a pigs ear of this in the first instance!
During the year, you will receive a form from the tax authority that you will need to have completed. You will need the pink slips to satisfy them of the tax paid source of income.
We have been advised that completion of the form is not too onerous - if you read and write Greek! Local accountants will undertake this task for a modest fee. We have recently submitted our return through an accountant in Acharavi. We merely provided them with our rental contract and papers relating to the importation and registration of our car. Oh yes, we also supplied the fee which was €60 (About £42 sterling at the current awful exchange rate!)
Transferring cash
electronically from a UK bank account by 'Swift'
In case you are unaware, it is possible to transfer cash straight into
your Greek bank account from a UK bank using the 'Swift' system. I can only
speak from our own recent experiences of transfering money from a
Barclays Bank account in the UK to our Alpha Bank account in
Corfu.
Every bank apparently has a 'Swift' number. In Alpha Bank's case, this is shown in the front of our pass book. It is a series of numbers that identifies the country, the bank, the branch and the account number. I have been advised by Barclays Bank that transfers can only be made between accounts in the same name. However, I am aware that a friend has had money transferred to his account from his father's account. Check with your own bankers.
I have used this system twice. Once was to transfer £2,000 which was deemed a 'small' amount by Barclays. (Not by us, I hasten to add!) The other occasion was to transfer a substantial amount of money. (On this, both the bank and we agreed!)
In the case of the £2,000 transfer, Barclays charged £10 because it was a 'small' amount. For larger sums they charge £20 or £35 depending upon the speed with which you want the money to arrive in your Greek bank account. In the case of the large sum that we transferred, my daughter, a co-signatory on our account went to the branch in the UK on a Saturday morning and the money was in our Alpha Bank account on the following Wednesday. This cost £20.
Had my daughter not have been a co-signatory, I was advised that I would have to write to the bank, who would then transfer the request to Barclays International Branch who would actually do the transfer. I was pleased that we had made our daughter a co-signatory!
In the case of the smaller amount, this was done by telephone from Greece. Interestingly, the bank automatically transferred this amount as euros. I had no choice in the matter. Fortunately, they told me and I gave the 'Swift' number for our Greek euro account otherwise, not only would I have paid a conversion fee to Barclays, but I would also have paid a conversion fee when it arrived in our Greek sterling account!
Whichever way you choose to get your money into Greece, you MUST ask your Greek bank for the 'pink slip'. They will supply it whether the cash is transferred in euros or sterling. They will also issue them in retrospect. If you hold a joint account and both have a tax number, ensure that BOTH NAMES appear on the pink slip.
Well, that's about all on this subject. If you have any observations or comments, please feel free to .
Enjoy Corfu!