Payout for the whistleblowers
Bonus of between 100 and 3,000 euros for taxpayers calling out businesses' tax irregularities
A bonus of up to 3,000 euros awaits taxpayers who, through the appodixi application, have detected falsified mechanisms and fake receipts in their transactions with various businesses.
The tax audit mechanism has proceeded to check important cases of complaints, while the relevant fines provided for by the legislation have already been imposed.
According to information, in the next few days, after formal issues have been resolved, the head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), Giorgos Pitsilis, will sign the first decisions with which citizens will be rewarded, having, in the role of a tax officer, contributed to the fight against tax evasion.
The monetary reward ranges from €100 to €3,000 and concerns named complaints that resulted in an audit and the imposition of a fine. According to the same information, the first ones to receive the bonus are taxpayers who reported gas stations and in which the auditors found during the audit many violations of fuel fraud and non-transmission of data in the input-output system.
For example, following a taxpayer's complaint, the auditors found that a gas station had been operating for more than two years without having installed a certified inflow-outflow system and without sending the corresponding data to AADE. The gas station was sealed and its operating license was revoked for two months – that is until the mandatory installation of a certified input-output system, a fact that will be verified by re-inspection. At the same time, oil trading companies were informed about the ban on fuel delivery until it reopens, while the businessman was issued an administrative fine of €50,000.
According to AADE data, over 166,000 complaints have been made through the appodixi app, of which 75,000 were named and 91,000 anonymous.
Employees of AADE, of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, as well as employees of the Economic Police Directorate of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, who carry out audit duties, are not entitled to the monetary reward.