According to the Ministry of Finances, the General Secretariat of Information Systems’ web platform received about 100,000 applications for the heating oil benefit last. Contrary to the Ministry’s original announcements of a prompt payment, beneficiaries have not received a single euro from the down payment.
This development has pleasantly surprised the Ministry of Finances staff, since temperature lately is high for the season. Nevertheless, about one sixth of the 580,000 estimated taxpayers who qualify for the heating oil benefit submitted an application to take advantage of the reduced price.
The Ministry of Finances expects that more taxpayers will apply for the heating oil benefit, compared to last year, which was considered a failure. Last year only about 80 million euros of the allocated 280 million euros were claimed, partly due to the technical difficulties in qualifying and applying and partly due to the high price of heating oil, compared to natural gas or pellets.
According to the Ministry of Finances, beneficiaries will see their bank accounts credited with the benefit “over the next few days”. The ministerial decree provides that the full benefit must be paid out within 20 days of the application submission.
The criteria for this year’s heating oil benefit are as follows:
Income criteria:
- Up to 30,000 euros for unmarried taxpayers
- Up to 40,000 euros for married couples, with 3,000 euros for each child
- Up to 43,000 euros for single parents, with 3,000 for each additional child
Asset criteria:
- Up to 200,000 euros in real estate property for unmarried taxpayers
- Up to 300,000 euros in real estate property for married couples
- The benefit is also available to the owners of vehicles with an engine up to3-liters
