Thousands of taxpayers with hidden income are identified
New software for tax checks has already identified some 70,000 taxpayers with hidden incomes – partly using data from money forwarded abroad – and emails have been sent out demanding the payment of additional taxes totaling 134 million euros. This concerns the cross-checking of declared incomes against bank deposits, as well as data from the stock market, the Ergani employment database and the Land Register (Ktimatologio).
This is just the first step in the Independent Authority for Public Revenue’s endeavor to combat tax evasion and increase state revenues. It has planned 113,100 inspections for this year, aiming to haul in an additional 3.96 billion euros in taxes, according to its 2017 program. This concerns 23,300 spot checks at corporations, 50,000 customs checks to combat smuggling, and 39,800 market checks (wholesale markets, shops, bars, restaurants etc).
Voluntary compliance on the part of some taxpayers is among the authority’s targets, particularly first-time tax laggards. In this context, the authority has planned for 97,000 telephone calls to remind taxpayers to submit their declarations for value-added tax (VAT) or income tax.
