The General Secretary of Information Systems revealed that within the first two weeks of operation, the relevant website for the heating oil benefit has received over 225,000 applications.
Even though the Ministry of Finances originally claimed that the beneficiaries would be able to collect the heating oil subsidy “immediately” after submitting an application, it has now announced that it will credit the accounts of beneficiaries “over the next few days”. The relevant ministerial decree states that the benefit will be paid out “within 20 days of application submission”.
Despite the rather mild autumn and high temperatures, about a third of the 580,000 estimated beneficiaries have applied for the heating oil benefit. The Ministry expects that more people will receive the benefit, after last year’s benefit turned into a fiasco, with only 80 million euros (of the allocated 280 million euros) being claimed.
Based on the Ministry of Finances’ decree, the new and expanded income and asset criteria for collecting the heating oil benefit this year 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
