Greek VAT gap declines but still amounts to over €3 bln
The VAT gap in Greece declined by a further 3.2 percentage points in 2021 but still accounts for over €3 billion in lost revenue to the state, a European Commission report has found.
The annual VAT Gap study, which measures the difference between theoretically expected VAT revenues and the amount actually collected, shows that member states lost around €61 billion in VAT in 2021, compared to €99 billion in 2020.
In Greece, the loss was €3.231 billion in 2021, compared to €3.426 billion in 2020.
Greece has the third-highest VAT gap in the EU in percentage terms, after Romania (36.7%) and Malta (25.7%). The EU average is 5.3%.
This figure represents revenues lost mainly to VAT fraud, evasion and avoidance, non-fraudulent bankruptcies, miscalculations and financial insolvencies, among other drivers.
Lost VAT revenues can have an extremely negative impact on governments’ capacity to fund the public goods and services upon which we all depend, such as schools, hospitals and transport, the report said.
