Sweeping tax audits are in progress on Greek islands since last weekend and the first results show high tax evasion rates. The highest rates were recorded in hotels, restaurants and bars, where they did not issue receipts.
It was reported that during 63 inspections carried out over the past days in Heraklion, Crete, Greek authorities encountered 33 violations and 39 offenders, while delinquency rate exceeded 50%.
The audits are currently carried out by tax officials from local tax offices, while there will be more audits in the coming days. Greece’s new Deputy Finance Minister Trifon Alexiadis has prepared a Ministerial decision that will lay down the way inspections are carried out in the coming months and the rest of the summer period in order to arrest tax evaders and increase VAT revenue.
Executives involved in the audits indicated that delinquency rates remain high, while adding that new methods are being implemented in order to conceal tax evasion. Several business owners are tapping into their cash registers in order to make their daily turnover appear lower than it really is, while also making it appear as if the business has issued the right amount of receipts. This decreases VAT revenue for the state, while authorities are not able to detect any form of tax evasion.
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