Greek tax authorities catch evaders through social networks

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Decided to travel to Dubai and have tax debts? With one social media post you can become a target for the Greek tax office.

Search for evaders on the Internet

Have you bought a house with a pool and posted a photo on social media? Auditors will check whether the pool has been declared to the tax authorities. Tax authorities are looking at posts not only from individuals, but also from businesses of any kind with a large audience on social networks (also known as “influencers”) to explore the possibility of concealing income and tax evasion.

Tax inspectors use all kinds of comments, hearts and even… likes made on social networks to collect information about tax evasion points. They scan posts (such as those in debt) showing luxurious lives, houses, cars, travel on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.

Officials say searching for tax evaders online is a new trend, so they are targeting social media for cases of “illegal enrichment,” the Greek tax authorities’ term for tax evasion. Of particular interest to auditors are stores that do not have a physical presence but sell goods or services through websites integrated into Facebook or other social networks, or even through websites that operate independently, like an electronic store.

“Special Forces” on social networks

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A task force from the Independent Directorate of Revenue (AADE) is tasked with checking Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok on a daily basis to identify discrepancies between luxury lifestyles and low incomes or losses reported to tax authorities.

On the occasion of the wedding of the year and the raid by the tax authorities, ADEA Governor G. Pitsilis gave a clear signal on how audits are being carried out in connection with what was noticed on social networks. “We monitor everything on social media, we have special digital tools,” he said, adding that there is a special team that scans social media and identifies, and then checks and audits are carried out.

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Weddings and tax evasion

The wedding promotion prompted special software and a special team of AADE auditors to “scan” social media.

Using the software, checks and cross-reconciliations are launched on tax returns, turnover, invoices, myDATA. In the case of the wedding, auditors began to identify one by one the factors of the celebration and the festive feast that followed it.

It is reported that the audit and cross-checks were carried out simultaneously for all specialists – from singer and DJ to makeup artist and estatewhere the wedding banquet took place. The cross-validation results were impressive. Almost none of the professionals issued any documents (checks or invoices) for their services.

https://www.rua.gr/news/obschestvo/60544-na-pritsele-nalogovoj-za-roskoshnye-svadby.html

Based on the results of the audit, the auditors sent out invitations to the participants of the celebration to appear at the tax office to give explanations. A dossier has been created for each person with all the information obtained during the inspection. The specialists who appeared before the tax authorities claimed that they offered their services to the couple for free, banking on fame on social networks.

It is noted that photographs, comments, messages about transactions without checks are what are used in such audits, as a result of which audit services expand their lists.

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