K. Daskalopoulou - From Stamp Duty to Digital Transaction Fee – The Shift in Taxation of Cash Advances and Other Credit Transactions

Legal insight

June 2025

Konstantina Daskalopoulou, LL.M.

Summary: This article examines the tax treatment of common monetary flows in practice—between companies and their shareholders/partners, or among related businesses—under the new Digital Transaction Fee law, with references to the tax authority’s stance as formulated during the era of the abolished stamp duty.

Introduction:

In Greek business practice, it is common for participants in commercial companies to inject cash into the company to support its liquidity. A similar phenomenon occurs when funds are provided between related companies (e.g., from a parent to a subsidiary). In this way, the recipient companies meet their immediate obligations to the State, credit institutions, employees, or suppliers and are thereafter burdened with the obligation to repay those sums to their shareholders/partners or to the related company in question.

Essentially, this transaction constitutes a loan from the shareholder/partner/related party to the recipient company. However, from the standpoint of stamp duty taxation—and now the digital transaction fee—this cash transfer may be treated differently depending on the circumstances. The loan, the current account, or the cash advance are the three categories into which the provision of funds by shareholders/partners, related businesses, or even third parties to a company—intended to immediately cover its financial obligations—may fall.

In this article, we analyze these categories in light of the newly introduced Digital Transaction Fee (“DTF”), in conjunction with the assumptions of the tax administration as shaped under the now-abolished stamp duty regime.

A Few Words about the New Law:

With Law 5135/2024, Greece took another step towards the digital transformation of its tax system by replacing stamp duty with the Digital Transaction Fee. The legislator aimed to modernize transaction taxation by establishing a simplified process that ensures clarity regarding which transactions fall under the DTF—an element absent under stamp duty, which caused uncertainty and opacity.

Law 5135/2024 was codified into Law 5177/2025 and is now part of the Code of Indirect Taxes (Government Gazette A' 21/14‑02‑2025). Thus, Book I of Law 5177/2025 enumerates specific transactions subject to the DTF to eliminate doubt about the taxable base, while detailing the taxable parties and fee rates. Additionally, the new law abandons the formalistic principle: it is the substance of the transaction—not merely the document—that matters for DTF applicability. Therefore, a written instrument or bookkeeping entry is not required; an oral or electronic agreement can suffice. At the same time, the principle of territoriality is relaxed: for the DTF to apply, at least one party must be tax resident or have a permanent establishment in Greece.

Under the new regime, the DTF declaration is filed electronically via the “myAADE” digital portal, in accordance with Decision 1149/2024 of the AADE Governor.

Application of DTF to Loans, Current Accounts, and Deposits/Withdrawals:

The DTF has applied to transactions, contracts, and agreements made on or after 1 December 2024. Transactions concluded by 30 November 2024 remain subject to stamp duty .

Law 5177/2025, in Articles 7–9, provides detailed regulation for the treatment of loans, current accounts, and deposits/withdrawals (i.e., cash advances). These provisions specify the applicable rates depending on the parties involved, the party responsible for declaring and paying the DTF, and any applicable caps. The provision is analyzed in the table below:

• Category	Case	Rate	Responsible Party	DTF Maximum Threshold
  Loans  (Article 7)	1. All parties are natural persons engaged in business activity and the loan relates to this activity 2. At least one party is a capital-based or personal company	2,40%	The loan debtor	€150,000 per loan
  	All other cases	3,60%
  Current or Reciprocal Account (Article 8)	1. All parties are natural persons engaged in business activity and the loan relates to this activity 2. At least one party is a capital-based or personal company 3. Transactions between companies (capital-based or not) and between partners/shareholders	2,40%	The party whose accounting records show a credit balance	€150,000 per fiscal year
  	All other cases	3,60%
  Deposits & Withdrawals (Article 9)	Deposits/withdrawals from or to capital-based or personal companies	1,20%	The legal entity whose financial resources are the object of the deposit/withdrawal	–
  	All other cases	3,60%

Notably, Article 3(4)(c) of Law 5177/2025 establishes that if one party is a legal entity and the other a natural person, the legal entity is responsible for paying the DTF—even if it is not the loan’s debtor.

Deposits/Withdrawals (Article 9):

Under the previous regime, stamp duty applied only if:

1. A contractual relationship existed.

2. The entry in the company’s books was explicitly recorded as a “deposit,” not a “loan.”

3. The entry was not already subject to or exempted from stamp duty.

4. The entry was recorded without need for further documentation—unless the taxpayer could prove otherwise .

These conditions underscore the importance the tax authority placed on how the transaction is reflected in the accounting records. For example, in Decision 225/2020, the authority held that labeling entries as “against account” rather than “loan” supports the interpretation that these movements are cash advances subject to 1.2% stamp duty .

Under the new regime, the DTF is calculated on the amount recorded in the books as deposited or withdrawn, with the obligation to pay resting solely with the legal entity whose funds are the subject of the transaction.

Current Account (Article 8):

Under the old regime, stamp duty applied to current accounts only if they were “loan accounts”—accounts comprising solely monetary credit transactions (loans and deposits). Accounts containing commercial transactions (e.g., credit sales) did not qualify.

The new law (Article 8 § 2) defines a current account as a contractual arrangement between two parties, one being a business, whereby mutual credits and debts are entered into a single unified account. The DTF is imposed only on a loan-style current account—not on a simple transaction account.

Nevertheless, ambiguities remain. Some decisions require an account to exhibit both debit and credit balances over time to qualify; others accept that regular transactions alone suffice . Law 5177/2025 clarifies that the DTF is calculated per fiscal year on the highest debit or credit balance, ignoring carryovers and excluding interest from the calculation.

Special Cases: 

• Inactive loan current accounts: Under the old regime, if a loan current account remained inactive throughout the year, its balance was treated like a simple deposit and taxed accordingly. Recurrent treatment of the same balance in subsequent years (without change) did not incur further tax.
• Deposits for share capital increase: Deposits from shareholders or third parties intended for future capital increases were exempt from stamp duty—and remain exempt from the DTF under Article 2(3)(d) of Law 5177/2025—since they fall under capital concentration tax . Under the old regime, such deposits were stamp-dutied only if not capitalized within 12 months.

Conclusion:

Proper documentation and accounting treatment of monetary transactions are crucial to avoid interpretations that may trigger unwelcome tax implications. The shift to the Digital Transaction Fee demonstrates the legislator's intent to clarify this indirect tax and enhance transactional certainty. It remains to be seen—through practical application—whether this clarity will be achieved and whether the ambiguities present under stamp duty will be resolved.