Self-employed come under tax scrutiny
Authorities to probe freelance professionals submitting annual incomes of under 10,000 euros
Self-employed professionals who declare incomes of less than 10,000 euros will be targeted by the tax authorities immediately after the end of the tax return submission process, which ends on August 31.
The first professions to be put through the auditing wringer include plumbers, electricians and all occupations related to construction in general, as well as taxi drivers.
These will be the first sectors audited as seven out of 10 professionals reported annual incomes under 10,000 euros. A specialized team of auditors will examine every sector separately. They will analyze the professionals’ tax returns, their VAT returns, their tax refunds, the information displayed in myDATA, their assets, their living expenses and even the aid they received during the pandemic.
Indirect methods will be utilized to check the professionals after they have been chosen based on risk analysis criteria. Using indirect verification techniques will allow auditors to determine the taxpayer’s actual taxable income through an examination of his or her financial state, utilizing data from a number of sources in addition to the tax return and the taxpayer’s official books and records.
These techniques are mainly activated in cases where there is an undue increase in assets, expenditures that are not justified by the declared income (individual and/or family income of natural persons), suspicion/evidence that actual income is higher than declared income and losses declared by natural persons or members of companies.
According to the data, there has been a huge increase in controls and violations this summer. Officials from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) and sources from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance noted a record in the number of fines and in businesses being shut down, mostly in tourist areas. According to sources, the AADE auditors have lately focused their attention on two Cyclades islands, Paros and Andros, where tax fraud has surpassed all previous records. As evidenced by testimony from islanders, fines and 48-hour shutdowns of businesses were enforced after infractions were discovered in over half of the businesses in Andros’ main town.
The technological instruments at the audit mechanism’s disposal allow auditors to target establishments that appear to have carried out POS transactions without issuing the necessary receipts.
