Filenews 2 February 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Additional "weapons" to enhance the state's tax collection are expected to be implemented by the Tax Department. In particular, modernization of the framework for issuing legal invoices and receipts is promoted by directly connecting businesses to the Tax Department (Online Fiscalization). The Ministry of Finance is conducting a study to find the best possible technology and solution to enhance tax compliance through the mechanisms of issuing legal invoices and receipts.
The modernization of the infrastructure and the legal framework, in relation to invoices and receipts, will allow automatic real-time interconnection of the market with the Tax Department for the purpose of obtaining direct information on trade transactions but also for a rapid reaction to cases of tax evasion. The measure of linking the systems of the tax authorities with the market and the cash registers of traders was successfully implemented in other countries, as the incidents of tax evasion were reduced.
At €5.78 billion. Receipts in 2022
Meanwhile, increased by €772.5m was the state's tax collections last year. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, in 2022, €5.78 billion ended up in the state coffers from the imposition of taxes, compared to €5 billion. in 2021. It is estimated that the increase in tax revenues is due to the strengthening of consumption and growth.
Last year, compared to 2020, tax revenues increased by €1.4 billion while compared to 2019 the receipts are €1.2 billion. In 2020, the Tax Department had revenues of €4.33 billion. and in 2019 it was €4.56 billion. The analysis shows that in 2020 the decrease in revenues, due to the impact of the pandemic on the economy, was contained at 5%, corresponding to €235 million, while the increase in revenue in 2021 compared to 2020 amounted to 16%, ie € 677 million. It is worth noting that from 2019 to 2022 the State had tax revenues of €19.6 billion.
VAT refunds
Moreover, in the last four years the Tax Department has accelerated the VAT refund process. The process is done through the automated process, during which risk analysis is applied for specific categories of enterprises. From 2019 to 2022, the competent department proceeded with a VAT refund of €2.3 billion. Of the total returns, €1.18 billion was given to the beneficiaries in 2022, while in 2021 €374 million had been returned. Finally, in 2020, VAT was refunded to various businesses amounting to €416.1 million and in 2019 a total amount of €395 million was returned.
