Suspension of the capital gains tax from property ownership rights transfers

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The capital gains tax is foreseen in Article 41 of Law 4172/2013 (Income Tax Code). However, as per Paragraph 33 of Article 72 of ITC, which was supplemented with Article 90 of Law 4316/2014, “a. The validity of Article 41 of the Code is suspended until 31st December of 2016”.
The aforementioned tax is levied on all income derived from capital gains from the property ownership rights transfers. More specifically, in each difference in price, and, thus, in profit, generated by the seller as a result of the sale and purchase process, and not as a consequence of a gift deed or parental transfer of ownership rights to their children. Capital gains are the difference between the price the taxpayer had paid and the selling price “or the value of the transaction” that is paid to him and is deflated, in accordance with Paragraph 5, of the aforementioned Article (that is, based on deflation factors, that are increased with time and range from 100%-60%).
Based on the consolidated bill, that was filed on 12.12.2016 in Parliament, the suspension period of the application of the provisions regarding the capital gains tax during the transfer of ownership rights of real estate, was extended once more. This means that the seller of the real estate property – under the condition that the bill will be passed in the end – will not be required to pay the capital gains tax, with the exception of cases when this is part of business activity.
In the law draft, the new suspension of the aforementioned provisions is valid until 31.12.2017, while in the explanatory memorandum it is valid until 31.12.2018. As per the above, the exact dates of the extension period will be known after the law is passed, at the moment it is certain that there is going to be an extension of the validity of the regulation.