Another tax evasion method -and indeed extensive- through misuse of an e-commerce platform, auditors of the Independent Public Revenue Authority found. The hidden material from the completion of these 16 audits exceeds 8.5 million euros, while it is worth noting that in some cases the existence of activity through the platform was established, before the declaration of commencement of work in the tax register

It is a global platform through which producers of all industries display and sell their products, such as jewelry, shoes, handicrafts, bags, clothing, home decor and furniture, toys, artwork, art prints, vintage products, etc., without mass-produced products are also excluded.

How it works

The platform charges a percentage of the final sale value on each completed transaction, a general fee every two months per product code listed and displayed, and other fees for seller services such as featured listings, payment processing, shipping label purchases.

Purchases and payments of products and partially processing the shipment of products are completed through the platform. The respective store is responsible for issuing sales documents through the platform.

How was the check done?

After extensive research and analysis, the auditors of AADE have identified on this platform shops of Greek merchants/creators with a significant amount of sales.

Using special tools, the average selling price of the products was determined, taking into account the quantities sold and the selling price of the most popular product codes per seller.

An estimate was then made of the total US dollar revenue from sales made, by entity, since the start of the partnership.

At the same time, an attempt was made to identify sales of the same creators on other platforms and through extensive searches and cross-references with various information on the internet, the audit managed to identify most of the Greek stores from those that were initially identified.

At the same time, using the platform’s invoicing data to Greek companies, for the services it offers them, which the platform declared in the VIES system, the auditors gained access to the corresponding client base of the platform in Greece and identified companies that could not be identified initially .

Through the commission amounts, resulting from the intra-community deliveries of the platform, the estimated gross income of the sellers/creators was determined.

The estimated sales value was then cross-referenced with the cumulative declared revenues of all years, as they were obtained either through the income tax returns or through the submitted periodic VAT returns, for the cases where the deadline for submitting the current year’s income tax returns is not had passed.

Therefore, thanks to the declaration of transactions by the platform, for the supplies it received from the Greek companies, the audit was able to detect differences in the transactions that the Greek companies failed to include in the VAT returns.

In the first phase, the TINs that presented differences of more than 200,000 euros were selected for control.

In total, 25 TINs were targeted and 16 audits have already been completed.

What did the auditors find?

Indicatively, the following cases are mentioned:

  1. In a business based in Thessaloniki and whose activity is the wholesale-retail trade of lighting, it was found, for the years 2019-2023, that 8,107 receipts or invoices, with a net value of 2.8 million euros, had not been issued or were inaccurately issued.
  2. In an individual business in the southern suburbs of Athens, whose business is jewelry trade, it was found that an unknown amount of tax information, for the period 2018-2022, had a net value of 2.13 million euros.
  3. In three self-interested businesses, based in the wider region of Eastern Attica and whose activity is the jewelry trade, it was found for the years 2018-2022, the non-issuance of an unspecified number of receipts, with a net value of 810,000 euros.
  4. In a sole proprietorship, based in Athens and engaged in the manufacture of imitation jewelry and related items, it was found, for the years 2018-2022, that an unspecified amount of tax information, with a net value of 680,000 euros, had not been issued.

Income tax and VAT accrual has been launched for audited companies.