From queues to taxes, waiting for hundreds of millions of euros in tax refunds, a delay of at least 2 to 6 months to complete the sale and complete the tax return on paper, the tax office has entered a new era. We have reached pre-filled declarations for individuals and businesses, the creation of e-books – a Greek patent, which is also being studied by other EU countries, in fact already officials AADE made relevant presentations of the new system – in electronic invoicing, and since the memorandums, the Dispute Resolution Directorate has been created, which has led to the unloading of the country’s courts.

New electronic applications, which actually replaced the contacts of taxpayers with auditors and tax officials, contributed to the creation of an atmosphere of trust, however, without eliminating the problems with strange transactions, at the same time, tax obligations of legal entities and individuals are processed by a computer in a few minutes.

The civil service has been at the center of the intervention and measures to curb tax evasion are now in order, they report from Ministry of Financenoting that in order to reduce taxes, even a feigned duty, tax avoidance.

Although efforts to curb tax evasion are now showing visible results, however, no proper way has been found to “keep” separate groups that have occupied the tax authorities for decades from withholding taxable material. In fact, an electronic property register has been announced for many years, which will include all movable and immovable property of taxpayers (from works of art and lockers to real estate and aircraft), which is still under consideration. In the electronic register of property, all taxpayers will have to declare their assets. If the verification mechanism later discovers undeclared property, the taxpayer will not only pay a fine, but also lose it, since the IRS will have the right to confiscate it.

At the same time, a measure remained in the plans that would make it easier for the debtors of the state. This is a progressive unencumbered account. In essence, this system provides that as long as the debtor regularly pays his debts to the tax office, the non-confiscated amount of 1250 euros increases.

Applications that have changed the face of the tax office:

From waiting up to a year for someone to receive a VAT refund, we’ve reduced it to ten days.

1. VAT refund. If earlier we waited up to a year for someone to receive a VAT refund, we have reduced the period to ten days. Recently, tax refunds have skyrocketed: AADE services quickly credit businesses with the VAT they are entitled to, and exporting businesses no longer need to prove their transactions because all the information is in electronic form. In total, in the first quarter of the year, the tax inspectorate returned taxes in the amount of 1.72 billion euros, which is associated with the created automated system. For example, a large company applied for a VAT refund of 600,000 euros, and ten days later the amount was already credited to its account. Of course, there are security loopholes that lead to the fact that in some cases, based on risk analysis criteria, it is necessary to carry out a second and third re-check in order to avoid the phenomenon of tax evasion.

2. Dispute Resolution Department. The Tax Dispute Resolution Authority operates like a small court with quick decisions. Those who are now applying to the TEN know in advance that their appeal will have to be “tied up” very well, otherwise it will be rejected. This can also be seen from the fact that the number of appeals from taxpayers who asked for the cancellation of fines due to late filing of the declaration and, in general, cases when they themselves knew that they would not be justified, since the tax legislation was circumvented, has significantly decreased.

3. my REAL ESTATE. The myPROPERTY online platform has significantly reduced the time to transfer real estate. Appropriate declarations are now filed electronically, and soon all the necessary supporting documents required today in the sale and purchase will be retrieved from the electronic real estate file, which is currently operating as a pilot project.

4. Scanning receipts. The appodixi mobile app has contributed significantly to the reduction of fake receipts. Citizens can scan the receipt through the app to see if it is legitimate or fake. Of course, the government, although it announced a bonus to those who find fake receipts, “forgot” to submit the relevant provision to parliament.

5. Cash interface. The interconnection of tax mechanisms with AADE has already begun since 2022, and to date, AADE has received more than 8.5 billion retail documents, totaling more than 250 billion euros. A few days ago, the Ministry of Finance and AADE presented a schedule for the next technological step, connecting cash registers to POS by July.

6. Digital waybill. With the latest comprehensive bill of the Ministry of Finance, which was passed by Parliament, a digital version of the documents required by law for the movement of goods and their transfer to AADE was provided. The provisions are intended to make it easier on the one hand for businesses to document and monitor their operations and, on the other hand, for the tax administration to carry out appropriate audits in the context of its audits.

7. Awareness. Taxpayers who have debts to the state will be able to receive information in digital form from next month. AADE continues to simplify the process of providing tax information in cases of debt with withholding, making it easier for taxpayers and reducing administrative costs.

E-books

E-invoicing and e-books may have angered businesses and professionals, but as time goes by, established businesses see the benefits of the new system. With e-books, the tax office knows the income and expenses of businesses. Thus, the tax administration was able to proceed with the pre-filling of VAT returns, as well as E3 form codes. Thanks to electronic invoicing, the tax office can check transactions in real time and know in advance the VAT that will be collected by the Greek state.