Greek Inspectors Crack Down on Tax-evasion in Tourism Destinations

Greek tax inspectors in June carried out 7,735 checks to businesses active on various tourism destinations in the country, with the average rate of violations reaching 32 percent.

The destinations that received the most inspections were Athens with 407 checks, out of which 37 percent were found to be tax dodging, and Thessaloniki where 289 inspections were carried out with violations reaching 55 percent.

Corfu town.

Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) also inspected businesses in Patra (233 checks, 36 percent of offenses), Katerini (200 checks, 36 percent of offenses), Zakynthos (186 checks, 41 percent offenses), Argostoli (173 checks, 29 percent offenses), Rethymno (166 checks, 20 percent offenses), Rhodes (166 checks, 43 percent offenses), Chania (164 checks, 28 percent offenses), Mykonos (159 checks, 43 percent offenses) and Santorini (151 checks, 56 percent offenses).

The most businesses that were found to be tax dodging were discovered to be on the island of Corfu where 141 inspections were carried out and 62 percent of violations were recorded.

According to AADE’s checks, inspectors found taxi drivers to have the most violations (81 percent), followed by car wash companies (75 percent), florists (73 percent), travel agencies (68 percent), manicure/pedicure shops (63 percent), lawyers (63 percent), grill/souvlaki eateries (62 percent), hairdressers (62 percent), car rental companies (57 percent), gas stations (54 percent), land and sea transport companies (53 percent), restaurants (33 percent) and hotels/lodgings (24 percent).