NEW DELHI, JULY 23, 2010: THE new tax rules may be in Greek but the consequences are far from being nebulous.

Under its newly revamped tax system, Greece has toughened its transfer pricing rules including steeper penalties, a narrower time frame and a lower exemption threshold for producing documents.

The Greek government has raised the penalties for non submission of transfer pricing documentation to 20 per cent of the amount of the transaction as against the earlier levy at ten per cent capped at € 8,800. Even the exemption threshold beyond which documents are required to be produced is lowered from € 200,000 to €100,000 a year. The new rules mandate that following a request from the tax authority, documentation must be submitted in Greek within 30 days as against the 60 days time margin earlier.