Tax inspectors told to target doctors and mechanics

Tax inspectors have been instructed to ask people using the services of doctors, cramming schools and auto mechanics whether they have been issued with receipts in a bid to clamp down on tax evasion.

The general secretary for public revenue, Giorgos Pitsilis, has identified these professionals and businesses as being among the most common offenders with regard to not issuing receipts.

Pitsilis has also warned inspectors to check point-of-sale (POS) card machines used by stores and other businesses after the discovery of devices that bypassed Greece and were linked to accounts in other countries such as Bulgaria and Malta. According to authorities, the machines should display the following labels: Cardlink, ibank (National Bank), Piraeus, FDH or Euronet.

Any PoS systems with stickers reading MyPoS and MyPoS EU are considered suspect and inspectors have been told to investigate them further.

Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis insisted that the government has the political will to tackle tax evasion. “Whoever obstructs checks or tries to scare off the inspectors should know that by doing so they are ensuring that we will camp outside their businesses,” he said.