Tax Authorities in Greece Launch Sweeping Inspections

Tax authorities in Greece have launched sweeping inspections to detect businesses and professionals that failed to comply with the new transaction regulations provided in Greek law.

The new obligations include the installation of point of sale (POS) systems and their integration with cash registers, “smart” cash registers in the food service sector, and the IRIS instant payment system.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) is primarily targeting cash registers and POS system interconnectivity to determine businesses that have not completed requisite integration or instances of pirated software, issuing receipts that do not show up on the myDATA platform.

The auditing teams of the tax authorities in Greece will focus on farmers’ markets, but mostly on taxi drivers, who are obligated to accept card payments but often resort to various tricks and excuses to receive cash instead.

Taxi drivers are obligated to place a special visible adhesive sticker with the following information:

The cab driver is required:

• To issue a receipt at the end of the ride.
• To accept card payments.

The customer is NOT required:

• To pay in cash.
• Failure to comply will result in a €1,000 fine from AADE or the Consumer Protection Authority.

Inspectors will also target professionals who lack a business account and, therefore, have not activated the IRIS instant payment system. The deadline to activate IRIS passed on September 2nd. A fine of €1,500 will be imposed on those who have not registered for IRIS.

Meanwhile, a legislative provision submitted to Parliament introduces hefty fines of up to €100,000, VAT suspension, and closures of up to two years for providers of electronic invoicing services.

IAPR is authorized to suspend VAT numbers in cases of insolvency or serious tax violations will be extended to include cases of violations or interference with the operation of electronic invoicing service providers.

Source: tovima.com