We saw drones flying over gas stations, customs and ships, cameras monitoring audited subjects around the clock, live images of the movements of auditors, special alarm systems, GPS and digital maps when we entered the operating room of the Greek Tax Service, where the heart of the audit mechanism beats.
New AADE Arsenal
Journalists of the publication TA NEA visited the AADE control operating room. Artificial intelligence and modern audit elements are being actively introduced into the tools of the Independent Tax Authority of Greece (AADE). Deputy Head of Operations Center Constance Tahtsidou showed us around the newly created room and talked about the new arsenal of tools to combat tax evasion and smuggling.
“We receive images from drones, which we send to various places such as gas stations, warehouses, ports, factories and make a complete record of targets, preparing an action plan,” says Ms. Takhtsidou. “With the help of drones, we receive information about movements that often “not visible” during on-site inspections.”
On one of the screens we are shown a video recording of a gas station in a large area, where, shortly before the start of the inspection, the drone discovered hidden cars among trucks and illegal fuel warehouses. Operations officers received the drone image and immediately notified inspectors, who rushed to the scene, acted purposefully, and identified the illegal activity.
Underwater drones
In fact, the next step will be to use underwater drones, which will facilitate other types of surveillance, such as detecting drugs in sea caches. And while Constance Tahtsidou explains to us the operation of drones, on one of the center’s screens we see online an AADE inspector on board a tanker, checking the cargo and taking a sample to check the quality of the fuel. On other screens there are digital maps of the entire country, on which we see flashing dots.
“Our auditors are here and are currently conducting inspections,” explains the operations room manager. At the moment, more than 100 inspectors are equipped with a special device that looks like a mobile phone. It receives image and sound, attached files and works in a closed loop with the operations center. The devices are equipped with GPS, and whenever the controller turns on its location is displayed on the map and on the operating room screens. Everything is recorded.
Auditor tracking systems
“The device records all the movements of the auditor. Where he went, how he spoke, how he stood. The information is recorded on the device and transmitted to the operations center, where the history is kept. At the end of the day, we know how many inspections of fuel, bars, enterprises were carried out, the results of inspections and number of violations.”
On another screen we see the data sent at the time of inspection by the Control Live application, which “runs” on employees’ laptops, and daily statistics are provided that serve to carry out more targeted checks.
The door to the operations center opens and AADE Manager Georgios Pitsilis appears to brief staff on the activities of the audit mechanism. He says: “The operating room is an innovative, international tool that allows us to organise, coordinate and control on-site inspections in real time.”
AADE’s Digital Eye allows the direct transmission of information with photographs and videos from locations being inspected, for example, for non-issued receipts, smuggling, illegal importation and any other tax or customs violations.
At the same time, through the operations room, better coordination and dispersal of AADE forces at checkpoints is achieved. “At the time of control, we can intervene and order the auditor to continue control at other points,” notes Constance Tahtsidou.
Panic button to protect inspectors
To ensure the safety and protection of controllers, the device has an emergency call button. If the auditor is in danger during an audit, a button is pressed and other personnel nearby are immediately mobilized.
Gradually, 300 controllers will be connected to the new digital infrastructure, notes Panagiotis Kavvadas, director of the executive service of customs control, with whom we spoke in the business lounge, while 10,700 GPS units, which will be installed on trucks and containers, are an important weapon against smuggling and illegal trafficking of goods.
“When a truck or other commercial vehicle enters the country, customs officers install a GPS device, which will be used to monitor the movement of the vehicle for the entire time it is in Greece. Via satellite, we will track the movement of the truck or container,” says Kavvadas, adding that the device will be handed over to customs when the vehicle leaves the country.
The operations room has been operating since June on the ground floor of the new AADE building in Moschato, where e-government services are located. This building is not at all like a public building, since it, according to Georgios Pitsilis, “has all the quality characteristics and best practices to provide the best working conditions.”
The building’s public areas feature more than 160 works of art by emerging artists from the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts alumni collection, giving the hallways of AADE’s digital headquarters a gallery-like feel.
PS AADE is an independent body responsible for the administration of taxes and customs duties in Greece. Was created in 2016 to improve the collection of taxes and customs duties in Greece. AADE is independent of government and is accountable only to parliament (as well as external creditors). Its goal is to ensure fairness, transparency and efficiency in the field of taxation and customs control.
Thus, external creditors took control of tax collection in Greece so that local residents and companies, tax residents of Greece, regularly pay their debts.
The budget for the functioning of AADE in 2020 was 1,000,000,000 euros. This is 11.1% more than in 2019, when the budget was 900,000,000 euros. The AADE budget includes personnel costs, administrative costs, investments and other operating expenses.
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