The Greek government is promising taxpayers in the country a bonus of up to 3,000 euros if they identify tax evaders, reports the Greek publication Ekathimerini, citing Agerpres.

Greeks will be able to get the amount by scanning the receipts through the “appodixi” app (which allows citizens to check the authenticity and content of receipts from cash registers) and identifying some that are either not authentic or were not submitted to the Independent. Administration of State Revenue (AADE).

This bonus will be included in a bill aimed at reducing tax evasion, which will be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday.

According to AADE, more than 235,000 citizens have already downloaded the application, and after the announcement of the “bonus” their number will increase.

Since the day the program was activated, 135,000 complaints have been sent, of which 75,000 are anonymous and 60,000 with the name of the sender.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy and AADE presented on Monday another platform “for citizen complaints”, available on the digital portal myAADE (through which interested parties can automatically submit their complaints and information, by name or anonymously, on various topics: corruption, evasion from paying taxes and violating customs regulations.

Greece considers itself the European champion in tax evasion

The new measure, prepared by the government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was adopted after the head of the Central Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, said in June that tax evasion in the country exceeded 60 billion euros annually.

“We are considered the champions of Europe” in tax evasion, despite the progress made in increasing tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, Stournaras said.

Over the years, but especially since the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis that hit Greece hard, Greek authorities have used or proposed a number of “creative” measures to combat tax evasion, from using drones to spot tax evaders to using tourists as fiscal “spies” “.

In 2012, at the height of the sovereign debt crisis and in the context of the Greek authorities’ efforts to fight tax evasion, some Hydra locals stoned tax inspectors who visited the island.

Despite ongoing problems with tax evasion, last Friday the rating agency Standard and Poor’s upgraded Greece’s debt rating, removing it from the “speculative” category for the first time since the 2010 debt crisis.

The rating was upgraded from BB+/B to BBB-/A-3, which puts it in the “investment grade” category. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised investors that Greece would maintain fiscal discipline and record a primary surplus of 0.7 percent of GDP this year.