They are taking back the regulation for fast VAT tax refund

With a small circular the Finance ministry ceases (temporarily?) the governmental proclamations for fast VAT refund from the State to individuals.

While a month ago deputy minister of Finance Pantelis Economou announced that VAT refund will be made within 60 days from the date of submission of VAT returns and that an inspection, before the tax return, will be carried out only in cases where the return exceeds 100,000 euros or there are indications of fraud, another circular comes after the elections to cut down expectations.

The new circular (05/02/2012) clarifies that Economou's previous decision (02/04/2012) cannot be applied because there must be a new ministerial decision. It says that the old decisions must be applied "until the new ministerial decision".

That is, until the post-election leadership of the Finance ministry is cleared up, if a minister wants to sign the decision he will apply the "old system", which says that the excess VAT tax refund is carried out:

-          without inspection for amounts up to 30.000 euros

-          after a temporary or regular inspection for amounts of more than 30.000 euros

According to the latest figures of the Finance ministry overdue debts exceed 6.3 billion, having increased by 602 million since the beginning of the year, while outstanding VAT refunds are estimated at 3 billion, with about 1 billion euros for the audited cases that can be provided with an immediate return.