Cash registers: Fines from 10,000 to 50,000 euros for Greek businesses “hiding” receipt files

Heavy fines reaching up to 50,000 euros are faced by entrepreneurs who, after a tax audit, are found to have “erased” records and memories from cash registers in order to hide turnover and avoid paying tax.

The Indepedent Authority for Public Revenue-AADE through a new circular is providing instructions for the practical application of the provisions of article 54E of the Tax Code (law 4987/2022) to natural and legal persons or legal entities in the context of tax audits and fines are defined for violations found after an audit for non-compliance keeping accounting records as well as for not preserving or not presenting, upon invitation, tax electronic mechanisms (FIM) and tax memos and records created by FIM.

In particular, the penal code, depending on the type of violation, is structured as follows:

1. In the event that it is established that the audited entity has not complied with the accounting records (books) provided for by the relevant provisions, a fine equal to 15% of its revenue from business activity for each audited year is imposed, as they result from the average of the income declared with the income tax returns of the last three tax years, not including that for which the deadline for submitting the relevant income tax return has not passed. This fine may not be less than 10,000 euros per audited year, if it is an obligation to keep simple books, or 30,000 euros per audited year, if it is an obligation to keep double books, nor can it be higher than three times the lower fine as the case may be . Failure to present the accounting records (books) to the tax audit for any reason is equivalent to failure to comply with them. The fine is not imposed, as long as the non-observance or information does not affect the compliance with the tax obligations and the submission of tax declarations or as long as it is possible to determine the taxable material and the corresponding tax obligations by any suitable means.

2. The fine of 15% of the revenue and a minimum of 10,000-30,000 euros depending on the type of books kept is also imposed in cases where, in the context of a preventive on-site audit, it is established by the competent auditing bodies that the audited entity did not keep or did not present the Tax Electronic Mechanisms (FIM), as well as the memories and files created by FIM (a.txt, b.txt, s.txt, e.txt, etc.) which are stored in electronic form.

The fine is imposed on the condition that the loss of the FIMs was not previously declared by the taxpayer before the issuance of the above order. In the event of a declaration of loss of the FIM, the fine is 2,500 euros.

3. In case of non-submission of even one of the income tax returns of the last three tax years despite the existence of a relevant obligation, the fine is calculated based on the average income of the submitted returns and cannot be lower than 30,000 euros per audited year , if it is an obligation to keep simple books and 50,000 euros per audited year, if it is an obligation to keep double books, nor can it be higher than three times the lower fine as the case may be.