The 11 necessary documents
A large part of the transactions and the individual procedures required to complete property transfers are currently handled electronically.
The number of documents to be provided by each taxpayer who wants to sell his property as well as by the notary cooperating with him reaches up to 11.
According to the current legislation, citizens who decide to sell or buy real estate in areas within the property value system, as well as notaries cooperating with them, are obliged to submit transfer tax returns electronically.
The portal
The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAEA) has put into operation from 2021 the electronic application myPROPERTY through which citizens can, in fact, proceed with the purchase and sale of real estate, without the need to submit Real Estate Transfer Tax (RT) declarations by mail or electronically sending the forms and the required supporting documents to the Tax Offices or by attending and submitting them in person at the Tax Offices. Electronic submission of FMA declarations for real estate within a system of objective values is mandatory.
The application for the electronic submission of FMA returns is available at aade.gr/myPROPERTY. Through this application, each notary must complete in an electronic form not only the transfer tax return but also the sheets for calculating the value of the transferred real estate. The completion of the details of the transferred properties and the sheets for calculating their taxable value once completed by the notary allows the declaration to be temporarily stored and sent to the accounts held by the contractors in the digital portal of the AADE (aade.gr) in order to validate it, through the same application. Once the declaration is validated both on the part of the seller(s) and on the part of the buyer, it is finally submitted to myProperty from which it is automatically cleared.
The tax
Transfer tax is calculated at a rate of 3% on the declared value of the property in the contract or on its objective value, if this is higher than the declared value. The tax must be paid in one lump sum.
With the clearance of the declaration, the tax determination act and the Debt Identity are issued, which are communicated to the buyer's account in the digital portal of the AADE (aade.gr), in order for the buyer to proceed with the repayment of the ascertained amount. Payment of the tax must be made by credit or debit card or through e-banking. Once the buyer has completed the payment of the tax, he sends the relevant proof document electronically to the notary, who then proceeds to draw up the transfer contract.
Blockade on cash
The buyer must pay the seller(s) the agreed price by electronic means of payment or bank cheques. Payment of the price in cash is prohibited, as is the notary's indication that part or all of the price was paid in cash on pain of cancellation of the deed and the contract.
When the drawing up of the contract has been completed and the payment of the purchase price has been made, the notary enters the application and enters in the relevant fields of the electronically completed and submitted transfer tax return form the details of the proof of tax payment, the number of the transfer contract and the method of payment of the price. In addition, they can "upload" the scanned tax payment receipt, the transfer contract and all the required documents and certificates, in order to facilitate the KEK.FOK or the competent tax office to proceed with the control of the correctness, legality and sincerity of the submitted declaration.
First residence
In the case of a transfer of a property intended to be used by the buyer as a primary residence, the buyer or the notary, when completing the transfer tax return, must "click" on an attached declaration form. With this text, the purchaser confirms that he/she meets all the conditions provided for by the legislation in force to obtain the transfer tax exemption and that he/she undertakes to send or present in person to the competent tax office or to the competent Capital Tax Centre (KE.F.O.K.), after drawing up the transfer contract, the documents that will be requested to prove that he/she is indeed entitled to the exemption. Essentially, the exemption is automatically granted to the buyer with a simple click on the text of the attached affidavit, whereby the taxable objective value of the transferred property, as calculated in the affidavit, is deducted from the taxable objective value of the transferred property, as calculated in the affidavit, and the tax-free threshold applicable to the buyer's case is deducted.
According to current legislation, the tax-free limit for the first home is 200,000 euros if the buyer is unmarried with no dependent children or 250,000 euros if married. It is increased by EUR 25 000 for each of the first two dependent children and by an additional EUR 30 000 for each dependent child beyond the second.
Procedure
In summary, the procedure for the electronic submission of the real estate transfer tax return includes the following 9 steps:
1 The notary prepares the declaration on behalf of the buyer and seller via the myProperty application.
2 The declaration is sent, via the application, to the buyer's and seller's accounts on aade.gr.
3 The buyer and the seller accept the declaration.
4 The declaration is automatically submitted and tax, if any, is collected.
5 The notary is automatically informed of the submission of the declaration.
6 The buyer pays the tax digitally (by card or web banking).
7 The TACHIS information system of the tax authorities is informed about the payment of the tax
8 The proof of payment is posted on myPROPERTY for notary and buyer.
9 The notary posts the contract on myPROPERTY.
Obligations
The taxpayer who is going to transfer a property, before submitting the transfer tax return, must enter the data of the E9 returns for the period 2014-2025, which are available in the "Property Status" tab of the Real Estate Inventory OSS of the Hellenic Revenue Agency and identify the transferred property, in order to check by year whether all its descriptive and identifying data are correct. If errors or omissions are detected, the taxpayer must make any necessary corrections through the submission of an amended E9 declaration and in any case must transfer the declaration with the updated details of the property to be transferred up to the next year of the transfer. At the same time, the same obligation applies to the acquirer of the property (buyer, donor) if he already has a right to the property to be transferred.
Updating the E9 declaration
In each case of submitting a property transfer tax return within the objective zone pricing system, through the myPROPERTY application, a modified digital property data return (E9) is now automatically created and submitted for both the seller and the buyer with the required entries, changes and deletions of property data. This takes place as soon as the notary posts the contract in the myPROPERTY application, which establishes, transfers, alters (changes) or removes a right to a property that is the subject of the property data declaration (E9).
In each case of transfer of property located in an area where the system of objective zone prices is not in force, the contracting parties must submit their own E9 declarations electronically, in the application "E9/ENFIA Declaration" of the Hellenic Tax Administration at https://www.aade.gr/dilosi-e9-enfia. In these declarations, the seller must delete the sold property from his/her estate and the buyer must add the property to the estate. The deadline for filing the E9 for property purchases and sales made or to be made in 2024 is January 31, 2025.
A... a dozen supporting documents
The documents that must be gathered in order to complete a property transfer are up to 11 and are as follows:
* Proof of payment of transfer tax. It is uploaded by the notary in the myPROPERTY application.
* Title of acquisition.
* ENFIA certificate. A document confirming that during the previous 5 years - or 6 years if the current year's ENFIA statement has been issued - all taxes due on the property (ENFIA or FAP) have been paid, as well as that the property's details are correct and do not differ from the contracts and other supporting documents.
* Proof of tax compliance.
* Proof of insurance information.
* Certificate of Completeness of Identity of the building/ dilapidated property.
* Any declaration of affiliation to n. 4178/2013 or Law No. 4495/2017 for the legalization of arbitrary buildings and a certificate of payment of the relevant fine as specified in the above laws.
* Engineer's drawings (floor plans) showing the existing situation.
* Energy efficiency certificate.
* Topographical diagram and building permit data/drawings (stub, cover diagram, floor plans, topography).
* Extract from the Cadastral Map.
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