The Governor of the Independent Authority for Public Revenues (AADE), George Pitsilis, referred to the tangible results of the effort to tackle tax evasion in 2024.

In particular, he said that there was "an overachievement of revenues close to 5.5 billion euros, and this is the real one because the nominal one is even higher," as he said in an interview with Mega.

Pitsilis attributed a significant part of the positive result to the use of digital tools, which, he said, "show... a change in behavior.".

He noted that the VAT gap, a crucial and internationally recognized measure of tax evasion, decreased from 29% in 2017 to 13.7% in 2022. We have a reduction of more than 50%; of course we still have a long way to go to reach the European average, which is close to 5%, but it seems that something is already changing."

According to Pitsilis, "the use of cards and electronic means of payment is our main ally. All this exercise that has been done and all these measures that have been taken are to ensure that whatever is paid by bank means, we will see it and we will be able to cross-check it.".

FINES

The AADE in the past few days imposed fines on businesses that had not linked POS to their cash registers, it was discovered after audits.

Specifically:

• A well-known nightclub during the Christmas period was found without any of its 4 POS interfacing with their respective cash registers. It was fined.
• A large fast food business in Thessaloniki was found to be unconnected to any of the 8 POS with their respective cash registers. It was fined.

"These fines are what we call typical fines. The basic thing is that, especially if it is a big business, it becomes a person of interest. Furthermore, it is often overlooked. These checks on the interconnection of POS with cash registers will continue even more intensively," the AADE governor stressed.

INFLUENCERS

Regarding influencers, Pitsilis noted that "they are a category of professions that are new, and still, some of them, it seems, have not realized that they have to be consistent. It doesn't mean that because they don't do an office job, they don't have to pay tax. And that they do feel obligated to pay tax."

TAX RETUERNS

From this year, the way of filing tax returns is changing, as a specific timeframe for filing is established (from March 15 to July 15).

Greater deduction for a one-time payment of income tax until 31/7 and provided they submit the return:

•  4% discount, from 15 March to 30 April
•  3% discount, from 1 May to 15 June
• 2% discount, from 16 June to 15 July

"The message is one, generally consistency by all," he said.