Greece Cracks Down on Illegal Airbnb Activities

Short-term rental operators who fail to declare their properties by the end of this week (February 28) to Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) will be faced with stiff penalties.

More specifically, operators leasing their homes on Airbnb or other platforms have until 28 February 2020 to declare properties being used as short-term rentals on a special AADE platform or to update information provided.

Operators failing to do so will be faced with fines ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 euros.

According to SKAI, there are currently some 83,354 homes being rented out for short-term accommodation purposes on Airbnb in Greece, with 12,827 of those on the island of Crete, 10,332 in Athens, 3,441 on Corfu, 2,229 in Thessaloniki, 1,803 on Santorini, 815 in Mani, and 514 on Lesvos.

However, according to AADE authorities, home-sharing activity has increased across Greece, with many regions still remaining under the radar.

Aiming to zoom in on tax evaders, the AADE has announced new stricter measures. In this direction, Secretary General of Public Revenue Giorgos Pitsilis is currently in contact with home-sharing platforms.

Late last year, AADE said it was considering imposing penalties of up to 100,000 euros on short-term home rental companies which do not provide information requested about their users.

According to a draft law, the AADE has the right to file a request within a given deadline to any online home sharing platform, based in Greece or not, seeking information about persons using the platform as sellers (property owners) who may be liable for taxation in Greece.

Should the platform fail to provide this information, it may have to pay fines of up to 100,000 euros, while property owners not declaring their short-term rental activity are faced with penalties of up to 30,000 euros.