A 40% reduction in rent will also be paid in June by businesses operating in the retail sector, as well as employees who will be put on work suspension this month and only for their main residence.
Also, dependents of employees on probation will continue to receive reduced rent for their student housing this month.
It is worth noting that June is expected to be the last month for which favourable arrangements regarding the rent obligation are foreseen, with the exception of a few cases of businesses that may be required to remain closed by state order in July. This essentially means that unless there are reversals due to the rapid spread of the DELTA mutation, from July onwards property owners will start receiving the full rent from the tenant. It should be mentioned that with the relevant decision (A.1139/26.6.20221) signed by the Governor of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, G. Pitsilis, identified the affected businesses for the mandatory exemption from the obligation to pay the total rent or 40% of the total rent for the month of June 2021.
In particular, the decision notes the following:
1. The lessee of a professional lease for the establishment of a business, which is established or has a branch in the Greek territory and for which special and exceptional measures have been taken to suspend or temporarily prohibit operation for preventive or repressive reasons related to the COVID-19 coronavirus or which is suffering financially due to the appearance and spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, i.e. a business which:
a) has an active, main Activity Code Number (ID) as of January 4, 2021 or has an active secondary activity ID as of January 4, 2021 to which the highest gross receipts correspond based on the initial income tax return for the tax year 2019 at least one of the IDs included in Tables A and B of the Annex, which is an integral part of this document, shall be exempted from the obligation to pay the total rent – TABLE A – or 40% of the total rent – TABLE B – for the month of June 2021, notwithstanding the applicable provisions on leases, in accordance with the provisions of the second and third subparagraphs of para. 1 of the second article of the Legislative Content Act of 20.3.2020 (A’ 68), as in force. In the event that the VAT codes of an undertaking, as defined in the previous subparagraph, are included in both TABLES A and B of the Annex, the scheme in TABLE A, which is more favourable to the lessee, shall apply, namely that of exemption from the payment of rent,
b) has an active, primary Activity Code Number (ID) on January 4, 2021 or has an active secondary activity ID on January 4, 2021 to which the highest gross income corresponds based on the initial income tax return for the tax year 2019, one of the IDs included in TABLE B of the Annex and at the same time has an active main branch/branch ID on 4 January 2021, which is included in TABLE A of the Annex, is exempted from the obligation to pay the total rent, notwithstanding the applicable provisions on leases, in accordance with the provisions of the second and third subparagraphs of para. 1 of the second article of the Legislative Content Act of 20.3.2020 (A’ 68), as in force.
For the purposes of this Regulation, a branch is defined as any business establishment outside the head office of the enterprise, in which a production or commercial activity is carried out [TAXIS Registry subsystem establishment code (10) – branch].
2. For the application of the provisions set out in the previous paragraph, the Activity Code Numbers (ACNs) are taken, as they have been modified in the Tax Registry of the Hellenic Tax Administration until 9 February 2021.
3. In particular for enterprises that were not active on 4 January 2021, for the application of the provisions of par. 1 of this Regulation, the main ID shall be taken into account on their starting date from 4 January 2021 and until the publication of this Regulation. In case the company declared the date of opening of a branch after 4 January 2021, the active main branch ID shall be taken into account at the opening of the branch from 4 January 2021 and up to the publication of this Regulation.
