The abolition of the stamp duty for over 600 transactions and its replacement by the digital transaction fee for those transactions that will continue to exist provide for a legislative initiative of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The relevant announcement stresses that "this reform concerns the modernization and simplification of a legislative framework that has been largely in force since 1931, its full digitalization, and its abolition, where necessary, and is a commitment of the country and a milestone in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. It also addresses chronic issues of ambiguity.

In more detail, the draft law, which is expected to go out for public consultation shortly, promotes seven changes:

• the Stamp Duty is abolished and replaced by the Digital Transaction fee.
• More than 600 cases of stamp duty have been abolished definitively.
• The transactions on which the Digital Transaction Fee will be imposed are explicitly mentioned, the declaration, calculation, certification and collection of which will be done entirely digitally via a special platform of the Hellenic Revenue Service.
• It is expressly excluded from being imposed on transactions falling within the scope of other indirect taxes.
• It is specified that the levy is imposed on transactions where at least one of the traders is a tax resident of Greece or has a permanent establishment in Greece, irrespective of the type and place of the transaction. 
• It is clarified who is liable to pay the tax.
• a single time for payment of the tax is specified.

Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis said: "With the proposed draft law, we are attempting another reform of the daily life of citizens and modernization of the operation of the Public Administration. We are leaving in the past, where it belongs, the obsolete current framework for stamp duty, which dates back to 1931. And we are using new technologies to address decades of pathologies that have caused confusion for citizens and ambiguity in the application of tax legislation. We are continuing our efforts to modernize our tax system as a whole while eliminating the obligation to pay this fee for over 600 transactions that positively affect the pockets of citizens and businesses."

Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Christos Dimas noted: "It is a cost-cutting measure that aims to relieve citizens, professionals, businesses and the State from bureaucratic procedures that have burdened them so far. The purpose of the regulation is to modernise the legislative framework for the imposition of transaction tax, to simplify and digitise the procedure, to rationalise the basis for the imposition of transaction tax and to reduce the administrative burden."

The Governor of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, George Pitsilis, said: "Replacing the antiquated 19th century Stamp Duty with a modern Transaction Tax, which applies to specific transactions known in advance to taxpayers and is assigned digitally, is doubly beneficial for citizens and businesses. It offers legal certainty, eliminating reasons that caused friction with the Tax Administration and recourse to the courts, and at the same time saves taxpayers from inconvenience, as it is paid simply and quickly through a digital process. The new Transaction Fee is a very important step in modernising our tax system."