Businesses and professionals are required to offer their customers the possibility to pay via the instant payment system (IRIS).

At the moment, the measure concerns professionals, who will have to have their business accounts linked to IRIS by the end of next month in order to be able to accept payments for the services they provide. On the other hand, businesses will have to be connected to IRIS by March 2025, according to the ANA news agency. 

This development is considered particularly important as the fees for consumers are zero, and for professionals, they are significantly lower compared to cards. However, a response from card companies cannot be ruled out, as otherwise they will see their turnover drop rapidly. Already in the major markets, payment by direct payment system is very widespread, unlike in our country, where the application is mostly used for transferring money between friends and families. However, market estimates indicate that its use will increase rapidly in the coming years.

However, in the event that professionals do not proceed to connect to the above system in the next 30 days, they will be required to pay hefty fines. Specifically, the "bells" amount to 1,500 euros for those professionals who do not acquire or register in the IRIS direct payment system, while a fine of 1,000 euros will be imposed on those who do not proceed to declare a business account to the tax authorities.

In fact, after June 30, it is expected that the Ministry of Development and ADDE will sweep the market with checks. The data will be obtained from the Electronic Governance Directorate of the AADE, which will have proceeded with the relevant cross-checks, so that the auditors will know in advance who has registered in the IRIS system and whether they have registered a business account with the tax authorities. In essence, the AADE will receive detailed information from the banks and will then proceed to impose the fines. So far, 300,000 professionals have registered in the direct payment system, and 600,000 remain. As the decision indicates, those who comply and pay the fine within 30 days will have it reduced by 50%.