Greek Tax Authorities Uncover Major Tax Evasion on E-Commerce Platform

07:41 24/8/2024 - Πηγή: iEfimerida

Greek tax authorities have successfully uncovered a widespread tax evasion scheme involving the misuse of a popular global e-commerce platform.

Numerous Greek merchants on this platform, primarily selling goods like jewelry, shoes, crafts, and vintage

items, were found to have exploited the system to avoid paying taxes.

The investigation revealed that while the platform charges sellers a percentage of the final sale price and other fees, the responsibility for issuing sales invoices rests with the individual sellers. By utilizing specialized tools and cross-referencing data from various sources, including information declared by the platform to the European Union's VAT Information Exchange System (VIES), tax inspectors were able to estimate the gross revenue generated by these sellers and identify discrepancies between their declared and actual earnings.

The first phase of the investigation focused on 25 businesses with discrepancies exceeding €200,000, leading to audits on 16 of them.

The audits uncovered a staggering total of over €8.5 million in undeclared income. Some businesses were even found to have been operating on the platform before registering with tax authorities.

Several notable cases emerged, including a lighting business in Thessaloniki that failed to issue or accurately record over 8,000 receipts or invoices, amounting to €2.8 million in undeclared income.

A jewelry business in southern Athens also evaded taxes on sales worth €2.13 million. Other businesses involved in similar schemes, mainly in jewelry sales and the manufacture of imitation jewelry, were found to have undeclared revenues ranging from €680,000 to €810,000.

As a result of the investigation, these businesses are now facing substantial income tax and VAT assessments.

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