By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Time for explanations for those proven to be found after her checks AADE to… lead a life disproportionate to their “declared” strengths.

The Central Authority has already sent the first audit notices to 800 taxpayers, who were found to have large discrepancies between their expenses and the income of their tax returns, to have their books ready because they are being audited and must justify the … on paper unreasonably.

These 800 “chosen” belong to those 20,000 cases with glaring income-expense differences of even hundreds of thousands of euros, which emerged after an extensive cross-check carried out by AADE. 3.8 million tax returns with declared incomes of up to €10,000 were matched against living expenses using data from bank account movements, electronic purchases, fixed bill and loan payments, and asset purchases

The AADE did not choose the 800 cases with the greatest mismatch but chose randomly from the various categories. Some €20,000 – €50,000 discrepancy cases, some €50,000 to €100,000 discrepancy cases, there are even cases where the taxpayer has to explain why his expenses are €300,000 more than the income he declared.

Also, the AADE informs some taxpayers by e-mail or even by phone and requests ..explanations.

If the explanations are not convincing, the audits can lead to the assessment of high fines along with of course the corresponding taxes.

This big intersection started from the summer of 2023 and several months will have passed until the first fines were 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.