By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

In the war against tax evasion – especially when you’ve made it your big bet – you need all the help you can get. And the government does not hesitate to ask for the assistance of citizens.

In a few hours the Minister of Finance Kostis Hatzidakis and its head AADE Giorgos Pitsikis will present a new electronic platform through which information and citizen complaints about all kinds of tax evasion offenses will be gathered and evaluated immediately.

In this new electronic complaints platform – this is NOT an application on our mobile phone – citizens will be able to inform the tax authorities of the type, time, place of the tax violation as well as the details of the offender. Complaints may come from the complainant’s experience or information through third parties, and the complaint may be anonymous or named.

The data will immediately be evaluated by the audit mechanisms and if deemed reliable will lead to an audit. Until the last moment, he had not made it clear whether any kind of reward would be foreseen in cases where tax evaders or smugglers are “unmasked”.

The new platform will work in addition to the Appodixi app which has been operating since September 2022 and through which we can scan the receipts from our mobile phone, check their authenticity and then inform the AADE about those that are “monkeys”.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31, Kostis Hatzidakis will present to the cabinet the Ministry of Finance bill with measures against limiting tax evasion. The aim is to strengthen electronic transactions and the utilization of modern technological means by the control mechanisms.

Among other things, the bill will provide for:

– The interconnection of all cash registers with POS until February 29, 2024
-The universal application of MyDATA e-books
-The extension of the obligation to own a POS to the rest of the retail market sectors that are currently excluded (taxi, cinemas, insurers, gyms, fairs, open-air markets, concerts among others)
– The mandatory purchase and sale of real estate only through banking means
-The activation of the digital consignment note in transport, which achieves the real-time monitoring of goods in transit
– The increase of the fine for cash transactions over €500 to double the transaction
-The institutionalization of the granting of welfare benefits (children, unemployment, birth) through debit cards
-Exclusion of smugglers from cooperation with fuel trading companies
-Interventions in the framework of the operation of short-term leases for the intersection of revenues and the maintenance of healthy competition in the market.