Detected instances of tax evasion increased by a whopping 174.4 percent in 2017, compared to the previous year, mostly due to stepped up checks, inspections and audits by the Independent Authority for Public Revenues, which itself was established on Jan. 1, 2017 as memorandum-mandated obligation.
The checks uncovered tax evasion worth 104.321 million euros, when the same figure for 2016 was only a verified 38.618 million euros.
The development, of course, doesn’t mean that tax evasion increased as a whole, but only that the new independent authority has increased efforts at curbing what’s often been described as an endemic problem for the Greek state.
According to figures released this week, some 251 businesses were ordered temporarily shut over tax evasion violations, while in 12 instances, owners and operators attempted to block the audits.
