GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Fotodotis Malamas, Bernitsas Law
operators must complete the due diligence proce - dures by December 31st of the reportable period. A reporting platform operator must report the informa - tion with respect to the reportable period to the com - petent authority of the member state no later than January 31st of the year following the calendar year in which the seller is identified as a reportable sell - er. Where there is more than one reporting platform operator, any of those reporting platform operators shall be exempt from reporting the information if it has proof, in accordance with national law, that the same information has been reported by another reporting platform operator. The information that must be reported by the platform operator includes the following. • In the case of individuals, the name, registered office address, tax identification number (TIN), member state of issuance, VAT number, and date and place of birth. • In the case of entities, the trade name, TIN and the member state of issuance, VAT number, exact address and any permanent establishment in the EU through which activities were carried out, as well as: (a) the financial account identifier to which the consideration is paid or credited; (b) the competent authority of the member state where the seller is resident; (c) the total consideration paid or credited during each quarter of the reportable period; (d) the number of relevant activities; and (e) any fees, commissions or taxes withheld or charged by the platform operator during each quarter of the reportable period. • For reportable sellers carrying out a relevant activ - ity related to the renting of immovable property, the information above applying to entities, the address of each property listing, the respective land regis - tration number, the number of days each property listing was rented and any other document related to the owned property. In the event of infringement of the foregoing obliga - tions, the competent authority may impose a fine in the range of EUR1,000 to EUR500,000. The total amount of the fine for late submission of the seller’s
data may not exceed the threshold of EUR10,000 per reportable year. In cases of non-compliance with the obligation to submit the required information or non-cooperation during the audit, apart from the above fines and by way of joint decision, the Minister of Finance and the Independent Authority of Public Revenue may also decide to interrupt access to the non-compliant digital platforms. The new law applies from 7 September 2023, and the first submission by platform operators took place on 31 January 2024 with a reference period from 1 Janu - ary 2023. UBO Register Following the enactment of Law 4557/2018 (the “Anti-Money Laundering Law” (AMLL)), the Minister of Finance issued Ministerial Decision No 67343 ΕΞ 2019 (as amended and codified), which reduced the types of legal entities or persons that must be regis - tered with the Central UBO Register (collectively, the “Decision”), regulating the registration procedure with the Central Ultimate Beneficial Owner Registry (the “Central UBO Register”), as set forth in Articles 20 and 21 of the AMLL. The registration obligation concerns all corporate and other entities with a registered seat in Greece (“Incum - bent Entities”) or entities engaging in any business activity that is taxable in Greece. The relevant enti - ties must obtain and maintain accurate and updated information regarding their ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) at a special registry kept at their premises for this purpose. More specifically, and as defined in Article 2 of the Decision, the following entities are required to be reg - istered with the Central UBO Register: • commercial companies, including subsidiaries or branches of domestic or foreign companies with an ultimate beneficiary listed company in Greece or abroad; • shipping companies; • civil professional companies; • non-profit entities;
202 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook