Seizures by the tax office begin

The growth of tax evasion has alarmed the financial staff and the tax administration, which are activating all measures and weapons to curtail it.

Already with the special algorithms used by AADE and the audit services, dozens of cases of tax evasion in the catering and retail sales sector have been identified, while other cases of major concealment of taxable income and VAT evasion are expected to come to light in the near future. At the same time, the Eispraxis program has been activated since September. The new system will have the ability to create an electronic file for each debtor, which will include information and data on their debts, income, assets and transactions. Eispraxis will draw information on income and assets from the “Ergani” system, GEMI and the Civil Registry. Then, after analyzing the data, it will activate automatic seizures of bank accounts and assets, auctions and offsets of tax refunds against debts.

However, the biggest fear of tax evaders is confiscations and auctions. AADE activates from September the measure of auctions, which had been frozen for more than three years, and specifically from July 10, 2019 for natural persons and the beginning of December 2019 for legal persons.

The judicial departments of the tax authorities are instructed to intensify the pressure on the debtors of the State to join the regulation of 24-48 installments, otherwise compulsory collection measures are activated even for debts of more than 500 euros.

For the collection of overdue debts to the State that have not been subject to legislative regulation, the following measures may be taken, at the discretion of the head of the competent tax office:

a) Seizure of movables, either in the hands of the debtor or movables and receivables, in general, of the debtor that are in the hands of a third party. b) Seizure of real estate. In addition to the above, it is possible, according to the current legislation, to take administrative, insurance and judicial measures against the debtor of the State.

However, before coercive measures are taken, the notification by the tax administration of an individual debt payment notification is mandatory, with the exception of the seizure of monetary claims in the hands of the taxpayer or a third party.

It is noted that, from the day the debtor is served with a copy of the seizure report, he is deprived of the right to freely dispose of the property.

If the debtor has not included his debts in a settlement plan, after forty days and no later than four months from the seizure, an auction date is set no later than five months from the date of issue of the plan.

However, there is a way for taxpayers to escape liens and seizures, even auctions. It is enough for them to make use of the favorable provisions of the legislation.

Specifically, by presenting supporting information and documents and submitting amended statements or overdue initial statements, taxpayers to whom the tax office has notified an audit order or an invitation to provide information (books and documents) can avoid the audit. That is, if someone is asked to provide books for inspection, they can submit an amending statement for any errors and omissions, while the resulting tax amount can be adjusted depending on the type of tax in up to 48 installments. According to a decision of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, the cases where supporting documents are required but also those where the amending declaration alone is sufficient are the following:

1. When submitting personal income tax returns, it is not necessary to present supporting documents to complete the codes regarding the increase of income from an unknown source for years prior to the 2014 tax year.

2. For other categories of income, which taxpayers fill in the corresponding codes of the declaration, supporting documents and information must be submitted, as provided for in the relevant decisions on the type and content of declarations for each tax year, unless the Tax Administration has electronic information.

3. For the submission of VAT returns (overdue initial and amending ones) it is not necessary to submit supporting documents, regardless of the way of submitting the declaration (via an electronic application, through the “My Requests” application, or in paper form at the DOU).

4. For the submission of declarations of other indirect taxes (overdue initial and amendments) it is not necessary to submit supporting documents, with the exception of:

a) the Capital Accumulation Tax and the Stamp Duty, where it is required to submit the relevant, by law, document on the basis of which tax is due, as well as

b) the statement of performance of the amounts of participation of the Greek State in the gross profits from games of chance via the Internet, which is accompanied by statements with detailed data, by type of games.

5. When submitting Unified Real Estate Property Tax (ENFIA) declarations, no supporting documents are required in the case of a new declaration or a change to a declared property, with the exception of the presentation of supporting documents which is required exclusively and only in the case where the liquidation of the ENFIA declaration results in a tax reduction greater than of three hundred (300) euros and the composition of the new statement and its liquidation is carried out after a check of the documents justifying the reduction by the Tax Administration. Taxpayers are required to provide any document from a competent public authority, which certifies the correctness of the change, in accordance with the provisions of circular POL.1248/2014 G.G.D.E..

6. When submitting declarations of Special Tax on Real Estate, supporting documents are required in case of submission of an amending declaration.