Tax dodging thrives after dark in resort areas
Tax evasion is most prevalent among businesses that operate at night in tourism destinations, and mostly concerns the failure to issue receipts, according to data from the latest inspections by the General Secretariat for Public Revenues that were carried out between July 27 and August 2.
Inspectors found that 18 percent of all companies checked had violated the tax code, committing three violations on average. In 90 percent of those cases they were found guilty of not issuing receipts.
The 3,672 inspections conducted on 3,620 enterprises across the country last week uncovered a total of 1,956 violations by 641 businesses. Inspectors visited 2,104 food service enterprises, with 324 of them found to be in violation of the tax code. The 990 inspections made at night identified 204 violations, indicating a slightly increased tax evasion rate among businesses that operate at night compared with those that work during the day.
The violation rate exceeded 54 percent in some cases at popular tourism resorts. Inspections took place in tourism hotspots in Attica, including the center of Athens, as well as destinations such as Santorini, Rhodes, Evia, Halkidiki, Achaia, Preveza, Aitoloacarnania and Lefkada.
