No-receipt businesses face closure
Greece’s tax administration is seriously concerned about soaring tax evasion, mainly at tourism destinations, and has decided to activate a law which provides for extensive probes into and temporary shutdowns of enterprises for repeated offenses.
The general secretary for public revenues, Giorgos Pitsilis, announced to professional and employer associations on Wednesday that serial tax legislation violations will result in short shutdowns, which will not however reach the law’s limit for up to 30-day closures. He added that a second chance will be granted to professionals who are found not to be issuing the necessary receipts or invoices during their first inspection. If they violate the law for a second time they will have to shut down for 48 hours, he warned.
The secretariat is also preparing a black list of corporations with large turnover variations. Therefore, if revenues vary greatly on the inspection days compared to those on the other days, they will will be placed on the list and be subject to repeated inspections.
The meeting also discussed other issues, with all parties agreeing that the use of card and electronic transactions is the only for Greece to combat tax evasion. A senior bank official noted that it is a myth that Greek banks ask for high commissions for card transactions, as they lag the European average.
