The transfer of real estate without an ENFIA certificate for those who owe money to the Greek state is impossible in most cases. Even for a small debt, the taxpayer, as it is logical, must first proceed with the settlement of his obligations. One of the solutions given to him by the tax office is to join the permanent regulation of 24 installments. The second and tougher solution provides at the request of the taxpayer to assign the total purchase price to the Greek state even if the debt is less than the price. The independent Public Revenue Authority codified the legislation for the ENFIA certificate with the aim of all tax offices in the country to follow the same procedures and to facilitate taxpayers. It is noted that the ENFIA as well as the responsible statement are issued exclusively electronically by the online application of Independent Public Revenue Authority through the Integrated Property Information System to a natural or legal person, active user of the services of Taxisnet, with his personal codes, for each Special Property ID Number separately.
According to the legislation, the presentation of an ENFIA certificate is required when the taxpayer has outstanding debts from various sources, including the ENFIA, which have been subject to a payment arrangement and a relevant application is submitted to the competent Tax Office. In order to be granted this certificate, the following procedure is followed:
- After being ascertained by the competent department of the Tax Office that the right to real estate is included with the same data in the statement ENFIA or in the act of corrective determination of the tax after an audit for as many years as the certificate is requested, the corresponding tax per year is calculated on an apportionment basis.
- The Revenue Department of the Tax Office indicates the balance of the tax to be paid, and the interest on it, the total amount and details of the debt to be paid and is co-signed by the Head of the Department.
- After the payment of the amount, the certificate is issued electronically except for the cases of par. 2 of article 2 hereof.
At the same time, an application can be submitted by the taxpayer for the issuance of an ENFIA certificate before the payment of the due tax, with the obligation of the notary to withhold it and return it within three working days. In cases, the entire real estate of a natural or legal person is transferred in exchange and the total amount of principal and additional taxes and surcharges owed is withheld and paid by the notary, for the issuance of the certificate an application is submitted by the taxpayer. The amount of the price or its part and up to the amount of the total owed ENFIA is given in the following order of priority:
- Initially the corresponding ENFIA is paid of the transferred property per year.
- From the remaining amount of the price, the remaining amount of ENFIA is paid, as it is stated in the certificate. If the price is not enough to cover the total remaining amount of ENFIA the payment is made per year from the oldest year to the newest.
The procedure is also applied in cases where the price from the transfer of real estate is not less than its objective value but is not sufficient for the full repayment of the amount indicated in the debt certificates to the Tax Office and social security institutions.
In cases of issuance of a certificate with the obligation to withhold the due tax and its return by the notary, if the deadline for its return expires due to complete weakness of the credit institutions, it is presented to the transfer guard or the Head of the competent cadastral office. In this case, the notarial document is not considered invalid, if the refund of the amount due is made within three working days from the end of the reason for the weakness.