Dozens of businesses and self-employed professionals in the retail sector have been inspected since the beginning of the month in order to ascertain whether they have installed an electronic transactions terminal and that the latter is properly operating.
A law mandating the installation of such point-of-sale (POS) terminals cited a deadline of July 31, 2017, for installation.
One of the “targets” of stepped up checks by the tax bureau, especially in high-tourism regions, are fake terminals and software that under-reports or alters data. Another target of inspectors are terminals connected to overseas bank accounts, which ostensibly means an avoidance of capital controls – a leftover from the shambolic negotiations by the current leftist government with creditors in 2015 – and possible tax dodging.
According to reports, hundreds of such terminals have been confiscated over the recent period, with most of the seized devices imported from neighboring Bulgaria, and connected with a financial institution in Luxembourg but with transactions cleared in Malta.
