ECONOMY

Stricter fines and penalties for tax evasion

Stricter fines and penalties for tax evasion

The country’s tax administration is planning a new, much stricter fines system for businesses and the self-employed, given that the fines currently incurred by those who do not issue receipts amount to little more than a slap on the wrist, as the Finance Ministry’s inspectors realized during inspections conducted mainly this summer at tourism destinations.

A number of tax-dodging enterprises appeared to be unfazed by the threat of fines introduced on July 25 and continued to avoid issuing receipts for their services, as the inspectors noted.

At the same time, the tax administration also intends to introduce specific penalties and fines for professional categories that do not have to pay value-added tax (VAT). For example, the General Secretariat for Public Revenue is preparing a plan to impose fines on doctors, private schools and other tuition institutions, as well as other self-employed professionals and small and medium-sized enterprises with gross takings of up to 10,000 euros per annum that have been exempt from VAT if they violate the tax code.

Now that private doctors no longer have to have a patients book and cramming schools (frontistiria) are no longer required to have a client list, uncovering tax evasion will be particularly difficult.

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