
27 May 2024
Who is obliged to file a Declaration of Assets (DoA)?
The persons liable to file a DoA are explicitly and restrictively named in the relevant provisions and include those who hold positions in:
- politics
- secretariats
- the local government
- the rest of the public sector
- justice
- the financial sector
- the media
- the armed and security forces
- the public auditing and financial services
- sports
- public contracts
- the medical field
- other fields, for which an explicit obligation is foreseen in a special law provision.
Indicative examples of the 49 liable cases are listed in the Appendix.
The following persons are also liable:
- the spouses, estranged spouses or the persons with whom the liable persons have entered into a cohabitation agreement and for as long as this relationship lasts, over one year.
- the alternate members of the collective bodies, if they have participated in their meetings, as this is evidenced from the official minutes of the meetings of the body.
When is the DoA filed?
The initial DoA is filed within 90 calendar days of the acquisition of the capacity and is not affected by a later acquisition of another capacity.
The DoA is filed by the liable persons annually, as long as the term of their capacity lasts or the status of being a liable person is maintained, as well as for 2 years after losing the capacity, with the final declaration pertaining to the year following the loss of the capacity.
Especially, for liable political persons, regional governors and mayors and judicial and prosecutorial officers, the DoA is also filed for 3 years after losing the capacity or after the publication in the Government Gazette of the end of the term, with the final declaration pertaining to the third year following the loss of the capacity.
The annual DoA is filed by the liable persons themselves within an exclusive period of 3 months after the deadline for filing the income tax return, which, for the tax year 2023, is by October 26, 2024.
Shortcomings or inaccuracies in the DoA are allowed to be completed voluntarily by the liable person, within a period of 30 days from the end of the deadline for the filing of the initial, if it is an initial DoA, or the annual DoA.
What are the obligations of the bodies to which the liable persons belong?
Within the first 15 days of each month for the initial DoA and until the end of May of each year for the annual DoA, the competent body or the managing bodies of the body to which the persons subject to the annual DoA belong or are supervised, are obliged to register electronically, via the single online application, and to finalize the status of liable persons, including their spouses, estranged spouses or persons with whom they have entered into a cohabitation agreement.
For this purpose, liable persons must notify their Tax Registry Number, as well as that of their spouses, estranged spouses or persons with whom they have entered into a cohabitation agreement by April 30 of each year, so that their status can be updated.
The non-existence of liable persons is declared electronically with the finalization of a zero list by an accredited user of the body.
Upon finalization of the list of the liable persons, a relevant message is automatically sent to the e-mail address of the liable person. This notification serves as a way of informing the liable persons about their obligation to file the DoA and the competent official of the institution or body is exempted from any relevant responsibility.
What is the content of the DoA?
Liable persons file an initial DoA, which compulsorily includes the existing assets of theirs and their minor children in Greece and abroad on the date of acquiring the capacity or assuming service in the case of tenure, their acquisition value, if it can be documented, and how they were acquired.
After the initial declaration, in each annual declaration the liable persons declare the changes that have occurred in their overall property status during the time period to which the declaration pertains.
The above-mentioned initial or annual declarations also include the assets of every minor child of the liable persons, even if they reached adulthood within the time period to which the declaration pertains.
The DoA covers in detail the existing on the date of filing of the DoA personal, official and tax information of the liable persons, as well as the personal and tax information of their minor children.
The annual DoA covers the existing assets on December 31 of the previous year in Greece and abroad.
What assets are included in the DoA?
For the filing of the DoA, assets are considered in particular:
- income from any source,
- real estate properties, as well as the rights in rem in them, with their precise identification,
- the shares of Greek and foreign companies, bonds and debentures of all kinds, shares of mutual funds of all kinds and derivative financial products of all kinds
- all kinds of deposits in banks, savings banks and other credit institutions and financial organizations, as well as all kinds of stock or insurance products and holdings in business or investment funds and trusts,
- the leasing of safes in domestic or foreign credit institutions or other companies that provide this service,
- vehicles οf all purposes, as well vessels and aircrafts,
- participation in any kind of company or business.
Especially, for liable political persons, regional governors and mayors and judicial and prosecutorial officers, their loan obligations to domestic and foreign credit and financial institutions, other public and private legal entities and individuals on December 31 of the previous year are also included, provided each of them exceeds the amount of 5,000 euros, as well as any debt arising from administrative fines, monetary penalties, taxes and fees to the State and the first and second grade local government organization bodies, fees to legal entities under public law and contributions to social security institutions exceeding 5,000 euros on the same date.
In case of acquisition of a new asset or its increase during the year to which the declaration pertains, the method of acquisition, the amount of the relevant expenditure, i.e. the price paid, as well as the source of the relevant resources must be declared. In case of sale of an asset that was declared in a previous declaration of the liable person, the amount that has been collected is declared.
How is the DoA filed?
The DoA is filed exclusively electronically, through the electronic application www.pothen.gr. The liable persons are authenticated in the application using their personal taxisnet credentials.
The liable persons may, as the case may be, choose to transfer to the DoA the data of the last income tax return (E1) of the year to which the DoA pertains, the details of the real estate properties included in their property status on January 1 of the following year to which the DoA pertains, the amount of the balances of the deposit and loan accounts and the investment products, as well as details of safes. All said data are automatically attached electronically to the filed DoA. Additional documents are attached electronically to the DoAs, which are audited mandatorily and on a priority basis.
Who is obliged to file a Declaration of Financial Interests (DoFI) and what does it concern?
Persons liable to file a DoA must also file a DoFI, which includes:
- their professional activities
- their participation in the management of all kinds of legal persons and companies, associations of persons and civil society organisations,
- any paid regular activity that they undertake alongside the exercise of their duties, either as employees or as self-employed,
- any remunerated secondary activity, if the total remuneration exceeds 10,000 euros per calendar year,
- the participation in a company or joint venture, when this participation may have consequences on public policy or when it gives the liable person the possibility of significant influence on the affairs of the company or joint venture in question,
- in the case of persons serving in an elected public position, any financial support from third parties, in personnel or material resources, granted in connection with their public activity, with an indication of the identity of these third parties, if the total value exceeds 3,000 euros per calendar year,
- any specific financial interests that caused a direct or potential conflict of interest in relation to their duties. A conflict of interest means the case in which liable persons have a personal interest that may unfairly influence the performance of their duties. A conflict of interest does not exist in the event that the liable person derives a benefit only as a member of the general public or a wider category of persons,
- any registered interests in the Transparency Register.
The DoFI is filed by the liable person within the same deadlines and simultaneously with the filing of the DoA, exclusively electronically through the single electronic application.
What are the consequences of non-compliance?
A liable person who fails to file the DoA within the deadline or files an inaccurate or incomplete DoA, shall be punished by imprisonment of at least 1 year and a fine. If the liable persons commit the offense with the purpose of concealing an asset worth more than 30,000 euros, they are punished with a prison sentence of at least 2 years and a fine of between 10,000 and 500,000 euros.
If the total value of the concealed assets of the liable persons and the other persons, for whom they must file a declaration, exceeds the total amount of 300,000 euros, regardless of whether the concealment is attempted by not filing a declaration or by filing an incomplete or inaccurate declaration, an imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine from 20,000 to 1,000,000 euros are imposed.
If the failure to file or the filing of an inaccurate or incomplete DoA was done negligently, a fine is imposed. The judicial council or the court, freely assessing all the circumstances, may consider such acts to remain unpunished.
Third parties, who knowingly cooperate in the filing of an inaccurate declaration and in particular in the failure to declare assets, are punished with a prison sentence of at least 6 months and a fine, unless they are punished more severely by another provision.
Those responsible for the electronic registration of the liable persons by the bodies to which they belong, who omit the filing of the list or file it incompletely, are punished with a prison sentence of at least 6 months.
The assets that were not declared in the event that an offense is committed with the purpose of concealing an asset with a value of more than 30,000 euros or a total property value of more than 300,000 euros are confiscated by a conviction, unless the culprit proves their legal origin. In case of mixing the proceeds of the crime with property from legal sources, confiscation shall be imposed up to the amount of the value of this proceeds.
Late filings of DoAs and DoFIs are possible up to one year after the filing deadline lapses, after payment of an electronic fee ranging from 50 to 400 euros per case.
What are the special deadlines for filing DoAs and DoFIs of previous periods that are in effect?
Exceptionally, the DoAs and the DoFIs:
- initial, with the obtaining of liable person status from February 28, 2023 until March 31, 2024, and
- annual of the year 2023 (assets of 2022),
are filed until June 30, 2024.