POS-cash register connection target achieved well ahead of deadline
Greece has achieved its target to connect companies’ card terminals (POS) with cash registers two-and-a-half months before the deadline, said National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis on Thursday. This is set to secure considerably more revenues for state coffers, he added.
“The businesses that have connected since the beginning of the year until yesterday are more than 407,000. The target set under the Recovery and Resilience Fund for the end of the year was 402,000 and we hit it well ahead of schedule,” said Hatzidakis speaking at the Athens Innovation Forum 2024.
“No one believed in it when we started the effort, I remind you of comments of the type ‘don’t let this thing go ahead in Greece.’ And yet, he went ahead. It took pressure and cooperation with the market, and today I am very satisfied that we have reached and exceeded the target”, emphasized the minister.
That is set to see state takings benefit significantly, as the figures from the first half of the year have already shown, he told Skai Radio on Thursday morning.
He also told the Athens Innovation Forum that the 4% of businesses that have not complied will face sanctions, starting with the largest businesses because “it is not conceivable to have the consistent ones who respect the law and the ‘sly ones’ who want to be treated as businesses of a different category.”
According to a relevant ministry statement, the interconnection of POS with cash registers is one of the five initiatives of the government for the expansion of electronic transactions. Also included are:
- The expansion of POS usage to 35 additional retail sectors. “Indicatively, in taxis without the measure being fully implemented yet, electronic transactions in 2024 doubled compared to 2023. The same is happening in many other sectors,” said Hatzidakis.
- The ban on cash in the purchase and sale of real estate has already been voted.
- The mandatory electronic invoices from 2025 after the relevant EU approval, which is another step for transparency in transactions and tackling tax evasion.
- The promotion of direct payments through the IRIS system. “Already today there are 3.3 million IBANs connected to IRIS, out of a total of 6 million. Therefore, here too we have significant progress thanks to the persistence of the government and the promotion of the benefit that exists for the average user,” noted the minister.
