2024-03-14 21:32:10
A barrage of tax audits is unleashed by the Independent Inland Revenue Authority, enriching its “arsenal” in the fight against tax evasion with a series of valuable tools. ElenxisLive, Appodixi, videotaping and live streaming of tax audits, use of special algorithms with the help of artificial intelligence and express crossings are some of the methods activated by the tax administration in order to carry out sweeping audits, further tightening the cord around all those who seek to hide income and not pay VAT (an offense that constitutes tax evasion) or to smuggle fuel. In fact, some of these tools, such as the use of cameras, were launched by AADE during the Halloween period, during which increased cases of tax evasion are recorded.
Simultaneously with the new tax bill, which will be put up for public consultation next week, changes are coming to the selection of cases to be audited, based on the audit risk criteria applied by the tax administration. The selection of the cases will be done by integrating the new possibilities provided by the electronic and digital execution of the controls. The new provisions define the concepts of partial, full and remote audit and the corresponding orders and relate the scope of the audit order to the audit report, while defining the maximum duration of the tax audit. In particular, it will be stipulated that a tax audit cannot extend beyond one year, in order to limit the stock of pending tax cases and to eliminate cases of audits that stagnate for a long time. At the same time, the competence of the audit centers of Attica and Thessaloniki is being expanded throughout the country, while the assignment of audit cases will be done automatically based on a special algorithm, which will take into account the number of auditors in the audit centers and the category of carrying out checks. All specific moves, with the help of artificial intelligence, are estimated to deal a strong blow to tax evasion. The Ministry of National Economy and AADE are “betting” above all on the interconnection of POS and cash registers from April, as all data will be recorded in real time, with the possibility of direct cross-checking by the control mechanisms. Interconnection of cash registers with POS is expected to reduce tax evasion as POS will not work autonomously for debit transactions. In particular: 1. With the activation of the “Live Check” system, inspectors will conduct on-site inspections of businesses and professionals with tablets in hand. Through the tablets, checks and cross-checks will be done with express procedures, while the result of the check will be communicated to the person checked on the spot. With the use of a tablet, AADE employees will have direct access to all the data outlining the financial profile of the professional or business. They will have the possibility to check on the spot and with automatic procedures the authenticity or otherwise of the receipts issued by the cash registers. They will immediately cross-check data, while they will issue a report on the results of the audit, based on which sanctions and fines will be imposed in the event that they find concealment of turnover and non-payment of VAT. They will also be able to check the tax history of the professional – or the business – that is, if they have committed violations in the past or if they are delinquent.
2. The on-site tax audits will be carried out with cameras and in live broadcast at the businesses’ premises. According to the digital transformation program of AADE, tax officials will carry cameras with them, which will record their activity. Inside the operations center, AADE officials will monitor the progress of the checks live and, based on importance, will intervene. Already, in the facilities of the General Directorate of Electronic Government of AADE in Moschato, the business room of AADE is in operation, which has the ability to coordinate and monitor, in real time, tax audits and can be connected simultaneously to 300 auditors throughout the country. The audio-visual material will be kept for six months and then destroyed. The new system began to be tested during this year’s Halloween season.
3. Using a special algorithm, areas throughout the country will be scanned in order to identify properties that taxpayers have “forgotten” to declare in E9 or have deliberately displayed dwellings with a smaller area than the real one in order to pay less ENFIA and smaller taxes and fees (documents, municipal fees, TAP). It is recalled that AADE uses the algorithm to identify pools that have not been declared, following in the footsteps of the French tax administration, where the use of a special algorithm, with the help of artificial intelligence, revealed over 20,000 undeclared pools and led to the imposition of taxes and fines of 10 million euros.
4. A new electronic system, which will collect data from the market and with a special algorithm will “bring to the center” of the checks suspected cases of contraband at petrol stations, is being put into pilot operation by AADE, with a horizon of full implementation at the end of the year . The aim is to limit the bleeding of state coffers from fuel smuggling and counterfeiting, which, according to estimates, exceeds 300 million euros per year. The new digital platform will collect data from the market by mapping the financial profile and tax history of the gas stations and then, by applying an algorithm, an alarm will sound to the control mechanism for cases that are in the high risk zone for smuggling. The digital weapon is expected to contribute significantly to the detection of widespread cases of tax evasion and fraud in the liquid fuel trade. It is characteristic that in the last year the controlling authorities have locked up dozens of gas stations and confiscated large quantities of contraband oil and gasoline. At the same time, the project of AADE concerning the monitoring of the movement of commercial vehicles and containers during their entry and circulation in the country was added to the Recovery Fund. The trucks transporting goods and the containers being transported will be equipped with satellite monitoring circuits and their movement will be controlled via satellite and also through other systems that AADE will install throughout the country.
5. A valuable ally of AADE in the fight against tax evasion is the appodixi application, as thousands of citizens use their mobile phones to scan the receipts they receive from businesses and through the application report cases of falsified cash registers. The monetary reward measure for taxpayers who report cases of tax evasion has been activated and provides for the following: If, following a named complaint against a business through the AADE’s “QR code appodixi” scanning application, which concerns retail sales data, a tax audit is carried out and a fine is imposed for violation or falsification or intervention in the operation of the Tax Electronic Mechanisms, the complainant receives a monetary reward after a decision of the AADE administrator. It is noted that the employees of AADE, of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, as well as the employees of the Financial Police Directorate of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, who carry out audit duties, are not entitled to the monetary reward. The monetary reward amounts to ten times the transaction value of the issued retail item, for which the complaint was made, including the corresponding Value Added Tax, and in no case shall it be less than 100 euros nor exceed 3,000 euros. If the complaint concerns several tax items issued by the same entity, the monetary reward is calculated on the issued tax item with the highest value.
6. The taxpayers and the cases that will be targeted by the auditors of the two audit centers in Attica and Thessaloniki will be selected automatically based on a special algorithm, which will take into account the number of employees serving in each audit center, the crowd, the type and category of cases to decide which cases should be reviewed. Then, the audit mechanism will start the “tax safari” either from the office or at the headquarters of businesses and professionals. It is worth noting that the controls of the control centers focus, among others, on the following:
– Taxpayer compliance.
– In identifying income and assets that have not been declared.
– In the certification of taxes, fees, contributions and fines based on the acts issued by the center, but also in the books of receivables.
– To natural persons who do or do not do business if, among other things, the value of the immovable property of the taxpayer, his/her spouse and his/her protected children, as calculated in the electronic application of the property register of the AADE, sums up to the sum of one million . euros and up to the amount of 1.5 million euros.
7. From January 2024, AADE has activated a new system that promises direct access to the data of deposits, loans, investments, safe deposit boxes or even the electronic wallets of the taxpayers it controls. The new system will utilize the data of the File of Financial Products and Analytical Financial Transactions, with the aim of quickly receiving and processing data and information concerning controlled persons, in a standardized and uniform manner. Thus, the determination of the taxable material becomes a much easier task and opens the way to put a brake on widespread tax evasion phenomena.
Source Realnews
By SISSIS STAVROPIERRAKOU