Greece's Export Tax Refund Policy

The export tax rebate is the value-added tax and consumption tax paid or exempted from taxation for customs export goods that are refunded to domestic production links and circulation links. It is a taxation measure that is permitted by the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), commonly used in international trade, and accepted by all countries, and that aims to encourage fair competition among countries in the export of goods.

In order to encourage exports, the Greek government began implementing the export tax rebate system in 1987. The specific approach is: the exporter pays the value-added tax when purchasing the exported goods, and after exporting, the tax is refunded with valid vouchers. In order to reduce the financial pressure on exporters, after many years of implementation, they have gradually developed to export before they can apply for a method of exempting direct value-added tax exports. The current situation of the Greek export tax rebate system is described below.

I. Functional division of labor and personnel (I) Functional division of labor Greece's taxation work (including export tax refunds) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Greece, which is the new Greek government's cabinet in the internal affairs, public administration and decentralization department. After the second largest department. Its subordinate tax authorities include: General Directorate of Taxation, General Directorate for Tax Audits, and General Directorate of Customs. These general affairs divisions are responsible for the formulation, supervision and administration of taxation policies throughout the country. Each local taxation department is responsible for the collection and examination of various taxes, including VAT. The National Audit Center and the Local Audit Center (Note 1) are responsible for tax auditing and auditing of companies with different turnovers. Local customs are responsible for the supervision and taxation of import and export products.

Endorsed export goods declarations for exporters to use for tax rebates, and also responsible for the management and inspection of consumption tax and value-added tax for four types of products (Note 2).

The tax authorities at all levels in Greece are responsible for the collection and deregulation of VAT on export products. The collected taxes do not need to be turned over to the central government and will be refunded directly to the enterprise. The specific export tax refunds are borne by the tax authorities at both the central and local levels in accordance with the principle of territoriality, that is, the taxation department at the place where the exporting enterprise is located returns the value-added tax to the enterprise after the enterprise applies for and approves the application. Or, after having obtained the approval of the application for exemption of value-added tax printed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the People's Republic of China, the exporter may directly export without paying the VAT.

(II) Staffing At present, there are 13,000 staff members at all levels of taxation in Greece. According to academic qualifications, its composition is as follows:

University graduates (and above) 6700 Graduates of higher technical schools 5400 Graduates of primary education 900 Total: 13,000 People II. Profile of Greek tax revenue Tax revenue is the main source of Greek fiscal revenue and is used by the Greek government for macroeconomic control Important economic leverage plays a very important role in the economic and social development of Greece. After the gradual improvement in recent years, Greece has established a relatively complete taxation system, which plays an important role in ensuring national fiscal revenues, strengthening macroeconomic regulation, and promoting the development of the Greek national economy. The tax situation in Greece in recent years is as follows:

Tax composition Annual direct tax Total Greek tax Indirect tax Total Greek tax ratio 1995 35.7% 64.3%

1996 35.0% 65.0%

1997 36.4% 63.6%

1998 40.6% 59.4%

1999 40.9% 59.1%

2000 41.6% 58.4%

2001 41.5% 58.5%

Indirect Taxes (Note 3) Collection (Unit: Thousands of United States Dollars)

1999 2000 2001 Proportional VAT 8767425 9919295 10946442 55%

Domestic Consumption Tax 4217755 4245048 4594277 23%

Other 3994717 4292003 4447542 22%

Total 16979897 18456346 19988261 100%

III. Overview of Export Tax Refunds (1) VAT status of the original 15 member states of the European Union On July 1, 1968, the EU eliminated all tariffs among member states, established a unified customs tariff, and initially established a customs union. Third country products from outside the region implement a common tariff policy to promote intraregional trade and economic development.

In the EU member states, export products are zero tariffs; but before exporting, they must pay value-added tax to their own tax authorities, and then apply for a refund after the export is completed.

At present, VAT rates vary among EU member countries. The highest VAT rate is 25% in Denmark and Sweden, and the lowest is 15% in Luxembourg (see the table below). Currently, there are three types of VAT rates in Greece: (1) 18% for most commodities; (2) VAT rates for products related to the national economy and the people's livelihood are 8%; (3) VAT rates for newspapers, magazines, and magazines are 4%.

Attachment: List of EU VAT rates for the original 15 member states Tax rate Member States General VAT rate Special VAT rate Belgium 21% 0, 1, 6, 12%

Denmark 25% --

Greece 18% 4 & 8%

Germany 16% 7%

Spain 16% 4 & 7%

France 20.6% 2.1 & 5.5%

Ireland 21% 0 & 12.5%

Italy 20% 4 & 10%

Luxembourg 15% 3, 6, & 12%

Netherlands 17.5% 6%

Austria 20% 10 & 12%

Portugal 17% 5 & 12%

Finland 22% 8 & 17%

Sweden 25% 6 &12%

United Kingdom 17.5% 0 & 5%

(B) The Greek export tax rebate The Greek export tax rebate mainly has the following kinds of situations:

The first category: no refundable way. The specific procedure is: When the exporter purchases the final part of the supplier’s product, he must first fill out the application form for exemption of VAT exemption printed by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and submit it to the tax authority after consultation with the supplier. After the approval of the agreement, the product is sold to the exporter by the supplier at the end of the period, excluding the value-added tax. Therefore, there is no need to refund the value-added tax. This approach accounts for a large proportion of Greek export tax rebates.

The second category: the first way to go back. The specific procedure is: the exporter pays the value-added tax before exporting, and then the customs declaration signed by the customs (triple-type invoices, in which the second is returned to the company), apply for tax refund to the local taxation department. If there is an upside-down of value-added tax in domestic sales, you can apply for refunding the value-added tax. For example, when a supplier purchases pulp for the production of newspapers and magazines, the value-added tax rate is 18%, and the value-added tax rate for newspapers and magazines of finished products is only 4%, so that the phenomenon of inverting value-added tax occurs, the merchant can apply. Return 14% of the difference.

The third category: "arrival" VAT. If the input tax for the production of export goods can be used to offset the value-added tax payable on domestic sales goods, it will be insufficient for the offsetting part and tax refund will be granted.

Export tax rebates vary according to the type of export. There are three types of Greek exports: buyouts, export agents, or direct exports from manufacturing companies. The tax rebates for these three situations are:

(1) Exporters buy out their own exports: This approach is more common in Greece. If the company has no record of export tax rebates in the previous year, the company can apply for no refund. Manufacturers generally agree to sell goods to exporters in this way to facilitate product export.

(b) Exporters acting as exporters: If an exporter acts as an export agent, the exporter is not required to pay VAT, but the agent is required to pay VAT when purchasing raw materials. After the export is completed, the manufacturer must go to the local taxation department to apply for the return of the VAT. The executor applying for tax refund may be an export agent or an agent.

(3) Direct export by manufacturers: In order to reduce costs and increase profits, manufacturers with foreign trade experience directly export have become a trend in Greece. When purchasing raw materials, manufacturers may negotiate with the raw material suppliers, fill out the exemption from the raw material VAT application for export, or apply for a tax refund after paying the raw material value-added tax first.

The above three methods have two prerequisites: (1) VAT exempted from export applications is the last link of VAT. (2) The application for exemption of value-added tax has a maximum limit. The export volume of the application part is the upper limit of the total export volume in the previous year. If an enterprise's export amount in 2002 was 5 million euros, and the company did not have bad records such as tax fraud in 2002, the amount that could be applied for export without VAT in 2003 was 5 million euros. The excess part should be paid before the VAT and then apply for refund.

IV. Monitoring and Management of Export Tax Refunds In general, a tax refund will be available to the company within one month after the exporter submits the application. In such a short period of time, how can we effectively prevent exporters and producers from using false exports to tax frauds? The Greek government has established a set of practical and effective measures for this purpose, including various laws and regulations as well as the establishment of a body responsible for supervision and management. At the same time, the General Administration of Taxation of the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Finance and the Customs will work together to prevent false exports and crack down on tax fraud. The main measures include:

1. Establish a financial crime inspection agency responsible for the supervision and verification of tax agencies and enterprises throughout Greece;

2, regular audits. National tax authorities and Customs have established an electronic networking system. All certificates required for export tax refunds, customs declaration forms, write-off receipt write-off orders, tax-exempt duty receipts, etc. can all be checked through electronic networks. Establish a corporate financial information base in the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, and link the information stored in the information base with the auditing department for online auditing and on-the-spot auditing. Audit contents include all material procurement and product output ratio records, purchase orders, import and export write-off orders, exemption from VAT applications, bank cheques and credit execution, bills of lading, etc., with an annual turnover of 6 million. Companies above the euro are the focus of inspections.

3, random checks. If there is someone reporting or reporting the disclosure or a company regularly applying for exemption from VAT, the taxation department will check the company. If there is any doubt about the taxation of a company, it is mainly investigated and dealt with by the local taxation bureau. The central taxation department generally does not interfere with local affairs. However, the six central government taxation centers and 57 local taxation inspection offices distributed in the six regions of the country’s central government have the power to investigate the tax evasion and tax evasion of the local exporter and the irregularities of the tax authorities.

4, cross-check tax. The so-called cross-examination of taxes is to check the amount and quantity of invoices for export goods purchased, and then check whether the corresponding supplier has invoice stubs, the quantity and amount of which are exactly the same as the exporter's invoices, and the batches of export declarations. Whether the quantity and weight are the same as those on the verification form for receiving foreign exchange; whether the application for tax refund is consistent with the special tax receipt record for tax payment.

5. If a company's tax evasion facts are established, heavy penalties will be imposed. The specific method of penalties involving VAT is: If a company evades more than 3,000 euros tax within one year, the court will sentence the responsible person to 1 year imprisonment; if a company evades over 73,500 euros in a year, the court will sentence the person responsible for 10 years Imprisonment.

Although Greece’s taxation measures are relatively complete and penalties are extremely severe, some problems have emerged in tax refunds. For example, the export fraud tax case that was detected in northern Greece in 2001 involving an amount of up to 58.89 million euros has caused the Greek government to be highly vigilant.