Handelsblatt: How Greece turned 100,000 citizens into tax collectors

German financial newspaper Handelsblatt characterizes the application of the Ministry of Finance and the Independent Authority for State Revenue-AADE “apodixi” as a success that exceeds all expectations. The app allows its more than 100,000 users to check the validity of the receipts they receive.

“The number of approximately 1,600 complaints per day shows that tax evasion is a chronic problem in Greece,” comments Handelsblatt, while according to a 2020 study by the University of Peloponnese, tax evasion in Greece has been steadily increasing over the past 40 years.

“In 1980 tax evasion constituted 3.74% of the Gross Domestic Product, in 2018 it was already at 10.3%. This corresponds to an amount of 18.5 billion euros that escapes tax authorities”, adds the newspaper.

Telling numbers

According to calculations by the European Commission, the lost profits from value added tax (VAT) in Greece alone amount to 5.35 billion euros in 2021.

“Almost 26% of the VAT owed escapes the nets of the tax authorities,” comments Handelsblatt. This is the second highest rate in the EU after Romania. To deal with this phenomenon, the Greek tax authorities have employed around 5,000 tax auditors until now.

“Now there are over 100,000,” the paper concludes.