Tax authority pilot crackdown traces dozens of offenders

In a pilot crackdown last year, the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) traced hundreds of foreign nationals who purchased properties in Greece without declaring them, thus avoiding the ENFIA property tax, and dozens of taxpayers who had concealed their incomes from rental properties. 

Pilot inspections carried out last year by the AADE led to 38 taxpayers who had been hiding income from Airbnb style rentals and who, once located by the authorities, declared an average annual rental income of 23,222 euros or a total of 882,443 euros.

Meanwhile around 600 foreign property buyers were found not to have declared their purchases. On being traced, they declared they paid a total of 253,301 euros in ENFIA.

Authorities had contacted a total of 1,092 foreign buyers with 55 percent proving to have declared their assets and the remainder paying the tax retroactively.

In the case of the rentals, a total of 464 taxpayers had been contacted but only 15.3 percent had declared their rental income.