A new “weapon” against tax evasion will soon be activated by the Independent Public Revenue Authority, where it will carry out sweeping cross-checks of tax information and data to identify undeclared income. It’s about new digital junction unit which will leverage, with the use of artificial intelligence, all reservoirs of tax data, including digital taxation systems, social media and the internet.

The goal of AADE is for the new unit to operate in combination with all the “tools” of the tax administration, such as electronic books (myDATA), the application appodixthe interconnection of POS with the cash registers but also the citizens’ complaint platforms, in order to strengthen the possibilities of capturing incomes that are not declared to the Tax Office or taxes that are not paid.

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Digital cross-checks begin

Within the framework of the new unit, a number of intersection categories are included that will start in the next period, which are:

– The control of the data declared by property owners active in short-term leases. It will be investigated, among other things, if the owners of Airbnb and other categories of short-term rentals have a Property Registry Number in the transactions they carry out, if they have declared a business activity.

– The detection of suspicious transactions through the development of statistical methodology.

– The disclosure of undeclared real estate purchases and sales through the available data.

– The utilization of the data resulting from the electronic books (myDATA) and concerning zero VAT declarations

– Cross-checking the declared gross revenues of the hotels with the data obtained from the Booking platform

– The search for taxpayer transaction details from foreign payment services.

Additional “weapons” against tax evaders in the quiver

The arsenal of AADE is going to be strengthened with other moves that are expected to be activated by the end of the year. Among them the new informational system for property increase control, the input-output data utilization system, the new Real Estate Ownership and Management Register. At the same time, the planning also includes the operation of the center for special tax and customs control and investigations. The aim is to act as a coordination center for all specialized tax and customs control units.

AADE’s priorities are also the monitoring and collection of overdue debts to the public. The aim of the two new collection centers that have been activated in Athens and Thessaloniki is to search for debtors’ assets that have not been declared or undeclared bank accounts. Their responsibilities include, among others:

– The activation of forced collection measures for debtors who do not settle their obligations with the Tax Office

– The categorization of debtors based on the amount of their debt

– The automatic monitoring of the progress of overdue debts that each debtor

– Identifying with the use of digital tools those debtors who frequently change their home address or place of business in order to lose track of them.