EBEP: The incentives for mergers to concern ‘Greek-owned’ companies within the Eurozone, but with physical and tax headquarters in Greece

The attractive tax incentives provided for in the draft law “Incentives for Business Development, through partnerships and corporate transformations”, submitted to the Parliament, to be applied between Greek and European companies in the Eurozone, provided that they choose Greece as their physical and tax headquarters. .

This is proposed by the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a letter to the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikoura.

As noted in an announcement of the chamber, the main goal of providing incentives is to create economies of scale, through transformations of very small, small and medium enterprises, but also personal collaborations, for all sectors of economic activity. Essentially, this will give companies a significant incentive to join forces and be exempt, by 30%, from paying income tax on the taxable profits of the new company, while in the case of partnerships of natural persons by farmer profession, this exemption will amount to 50%.

The announcement reminds that, as the Ministry of Finance points out in its announcement, the motives of the bill concern all forms of transformations, including the case of contribution of a sole proprietorship in any form of company, as well as collaborations of persons, either in the form of binding contracts. with the joint establishment of new companies. The tax benefit may not exceed the total amount of EUR 500,000, up to a period of up to nine years from the date of application of the tax exemption, and there are a number of tax incentives, such as stamp duty and income tax goodwill of any transformation-related transaction. It is noted that, professional farmers members of Agricultural Cooperatives and other collective bodies, such as producer groups, as well as professional farmers who enter into binding contracts with a company – buyer for the absorption of their products in the context of contract farming, are granted a 50% exemption from income tax on taxable profits from agricultural business, provided that 75% of their products are sold in the framework of the above partnerships.

The Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry states that it tries, over time, through realistic and measurable proposals, to support healthy entrepreneurship, aiming at the wider development of the Greek Economy. In this regard, the chamber welcomes the proposed bill of the Ministry of Finance and calls for its expansion with further incentives, so as to benefit as many companies as possible. In this direction, and with emphasis on extroversion, he believes that incentives should also be given to join forces of very small and medium-sized Greek nationals with foreign European companies regardless of their size.

Suggestions

More specifically, EBEP proposes to give tax exemptions at a rate of 30-50% for a period of 9 years to all new companies that will be created in our country and will result from the merger, both between Greek and Greek and European companies. That is, to give incentives to European companies to come to our country and cooperate with Greek ones. That is, to bring the funds and part of their turnover to our country, for which the corresponding reduced taxes will be attributed to the Greek state. In this case, there may be scales of reduction, but also clauses, depending on the amount of new investments, but also the creation of new jobs. If Greece wants to come earlier than other countries closer to the European flat tax of 15%, planned in the EU and combined with a 5% dividend tax, tax competitive and business attractive, it should extend the incentives to the bill with The following:

• To give tax exemptions at a rate between 30-50%, for a period of 9 years, to all companies that will be transformed by the consolidation of companies based in Greece with corresponding European companies in other eurozone countries.

• To strengthen the tax incentives for Greek companies that will be transformed into corporations with subsidiaries of Greek interests in eurozone countries in specific, dynamic, innovative and extroverted sectors, which the Greek Economy seeks

• To include in the tax deductions intermediate scales, depending on the amount of the share capital and the jobs, in order to achieve the desired growth of the small and medium enterprises with physical and tax headquarters in Greece.

Statement by V. Korkidis

According to the president of EVEP Vassilis Korkidis, the ancient phrase “power in union” is timeless and relevant, as never before in business. The tax incentives for the merger of companies will lead to the creation of strong business schemes, which will be able to cope with future financial crises, create economies of scale and promote more efficient products and services in Greece and abroad.

These collaborations, mergers and transformations, as he notes, should not be limited only to Greek companies, but should be expanded to include “Greek-owned” and other companies in the Eurozone for the return of companies and capital to their headquarters.

At EBEP we believe, he continues, that after the “business drain”, it is time for Greece to “business gain”. The tax incentives for specific business activities and for a specific period of time should be expanded, with the sole aim of attracting as much investment capital as possible. “In our country. The Greek companies and the funds that” migrated “due to over-taxation in the years of the memoranda, it is time to return to where they belong, through collaborations and corporate transformations”.