Taxisnet a prime tool against tax evasion
The revamped Taxis electronic system for all forms of transactions with taxpayers – to be launched very soon – will have a capacity 50 times that of the existing facility, Economy and Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said yesterday. Presenting the upgraded system, he said it would include two main new features. First, taxpayers will be able to fill in their tax statements through Taxisnet and receive a clearing debit or credit note directly after submission. Second, companies will be able to fill in and submit forms for employees’ taxes retained at the source. Taxisnet will also automatically provide printouts of end-of-year certificates of pay and tax deducted for individual employees. Besides greatly facilitating transactions for citizens, Alogoskoufis said the upgrading of the system will also help improve fairness in taxation and the fight against tax evasion. «This will be achieved through the potential offered by the new technologies in cross-checking tax data and making tax controls objective, putting an end to arbitrary phenomena and subjective assessments that have long plagued citizens and businesses… «The effort is already yielding results… It would be a great social injustice to tolerate this high tax evasion,» he said. Alogoskoufis said budget revenues rose 14 percent in February, year-on-year – almost double the annual target of 7.9 percent, with a 21 percent increase in value-added tax receipts. Customs revenue was 18 percent up. Finance Ministry officials said the latest data confirm the reversal of a declining trend recorded up to October 2005. The number of transactions through the Finance Ministry’s electronic tax system rose 67 percent in 2005 to 2,256,000.
