By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The time of “crisis” for those proven to be found after the AADE checks to… lead a life disproportionate to their “declared” strengths. From next month at the latest, they will start arriving at their “door”. the ravasaki of AADE with which they will be thrown the ball of justifying the difference between what they spent and what they declared in their tax returns.

AADE carried out an extensive cross-examination 3.8 million tax returns with declared incomes up to €10,000 with the corresponding living expenses of the taxpayers. In particular, the comparison was made with the movements of bank accounts, electronic purchases, payments of fixed accounts and loan obligations, asset purchases, and the findings showed 20,000 cases with glaring differences, even hundreds of thousands of euros.

Those 20,000 who were “caught” in the crosshairs of the AADE, will be asked to explain the findings concerning them even if they are not convincing will be faced with scrutiny which can lead to the assessment of high fines along with of course the corresponding taxes.

This big intersection started in the summer and it will be several months until the first fines are confirmed and it also absorbed a significant number of human resources. AADE does not have enough time and staff to devote to this process alone when it has to control a huge range of financial activities.

And luckily he won’t have to do it again. From this year it will be able to carry out thousands of automatic tax checks between bank deposits and declared income thanks to a new tool which has come into effect in recent days. Its name AUTOMATED WEALTH ADDITION CONTROL SYSTEM.

In the new reality, the auditors of the AADE have the possibility to receive with express procedures from the banks data for every taxpayer that comes under their microscope and they concern:

  • Amount of deposits
  • Credit-Debit cards
  • Electronic wallets
  • Investment/Deposit accounts
  • ATMs

The authorities will then be able to compare these data with those listed in the tax returns and determine if there is unjustified enrichment (If the excess amount is established, it is taxed at a rate of 33%). In a way, a process that until the end of 2023 could last even 18 months, will now be able to be completed even within a week if it is a not so complex case. It also frees up resources that can be allocated to combating large-scale tax evasion, which is, after all, the goal of the government and the leadership of the Independent Authority.