Card use can add 1 bln to VAT takings
If all transactions between businesses and citizens and the former and the state were conducted electronically, the illegal economy would be reduced by 10 percentage points – from over 25 percent of the economy today – and value-added tax revenues would increase by 1 billion euros per year, according to a study by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).
The study added that online or card payments would reduce the cost of state procurements by 200 million euros per annum, and the enterprises’ operating costs by 1-1.5 billion euros, along with cutting the issue of bogus invoices by up to 60 percent.
Electronic transactions would also ensure that competition rules are observed, to the benefit of law-abiding corporations and the market.
Even after the imposition of capital controls led to a 90 percent rise in electronic transactions, the latter’s penetration rate in Greece remains the lowest among the 28 European Union member-states.
