You are born in a country, you grow up, and you get an identity card, a tax number, a social security number, and legal documents. All this enables you to have access to any public service, to health and education structures, and to be able to claim if at any time you need an allowance, a service or support by the state, even to demand your right that is being violated.
The above are fundamental elements of a person’s life in Europe. Fundamental, and somewhat obvious. For this reason, we only understand their value when we lose them or when they are doubted, and this applies to everyone, whether we are indigenous or not.
For people who are displaced from their home countries and forced to start their lives all over again in a new country, the possession of legal documents is their primary concern as otherwise, it is impossible to continue moving forward towards their integration into the new society.
At SolidarityNow, acknowledging the importance of these issues, we place the Accounting Service at the core of our free provided services.
At the Athens Solidarity Centre and the Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki, the qualified staff of the Accounting Service provides:
- Tax-related advice
- Completing and submitting tax returns
- Submitting applications for social allowances
- Debt settlement
- Issuing unemployment cards
- Providing support for daily integration challenges (access social benefits, issuance of tax registration numbers, TAXISnet codes, issuance of Temporary Number of Insurance and Healthcare, social security number, unemployment card etc.)
This Tax Guide was compiled to provide essential information on the obligatory submission of tax declaration for all people living in Greece. The Guide is published in Greek and in six (6) more languages (English, French, Arabic, Ukrainian, Urdu, Farsi).
It is not only an income declaration
Submitting a tax declaration is a way of proving a person’s legal residence in Greece, while it also enables other actions such as the opening of a bank account, applying for allowances, transacting with a public service or accessing social services.
Some indicative results from the operation of the organization’s Accounting Service for 2023:
930+ people requested and received accounting assistance from the service in Athens and Thessaloniki
1423 appointments were held
723 tax returns were submitted and
351 applications were submitted for social benefits (allowances, unemployment cards, travel cards, etc.).
*Since August 1st, 2023, the operation of the Athens Solidarity Center is supported by the Swiss-Greek Cooperation Programme in Greece (Embassy of Switzerland in Greece) to reducing economic and social disparities in the EU and by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
**Since August 2023 till March 2024, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.
***Since July 2023 till June 2024, the Kahane Foundation supports the Employability Service of the Athens Solidarity Center.
The Athens Solidarity Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.
The operation of the Blue Refugee Center is supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNICEF Greece.