Galery

1

The five-year Strategic Plan prepared by the Government for 2011-2015 for the Greek tax authorities provides for a retroactive tax on deposits abroad, which do not correspond to the declared income of their owners, the gradual approximation to the objective evaluation of the property to its market price, the price unification of heating fuel with that of petrol along wih the parallel subsidizing of the costs for consumers and other regulations to combat tax evasion as well as reorganization of the tax services.

The measures also include disclosure of lists of names of major debtors, concealed their income, having overdue debts for more than 150,000 euros, determining  determining using air photos of taxpayers who have not declared their swimming pools, and the merger or closure of at least 180 tax offices, a large part of the staff will be transferred to the larger tax offices. Also many of the standard services for taxpayers will be transferred from the tax services to the Public service Centers.

The plan was approved by the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos and was made public yesterday.

As the Minister of Finance stated in his message "along with the National Operational Programme against the concealing of income, announced in May and the new tax system which we will introduce in September, this is a complete tax reform, which fundamentally changes the relationship of citizens and businesses with tax authorities and provides a fair, efficient and progressive tax framework."

In particular, the measures provided for in the Strategic Plan for the Greek tax administration are the following:

* Implementation of the intensive program of collection of overdue debts by major debtors, through innovative methods of targeting and forcible collection.

* Acceleration of the implementation of the reforms introduced by the new tax law.

* Provision of better compliance with the tax legislation and more effective verifications of 1,000 of the largest companies.

* Control against income concealing by individuals and those employed in the free professions with high incomes, through actions to enforce the tax laws, based on risk analysis and penalties for significant violations.

* The creation of a centrally managed system for inspections and actions to enforce tax compliance by taxpayers.

* Full mobilization of new business units created in the General Directorate "tax inspections" to analyze the risk.

* Use the new service of auditors, which is created with the requirement for special qualities and performance contracts.

* Develop an annual inspection program, which will include a mix of methods, including inspections in offices, verifications on specific issues, in-depth general inspections and targeted research based on risk.

* Completion and summarizing of the implementation of the software system for selection and management of the ELENXIS cases, as well as of the associated systems for operational support.

* Creation of a continuous program for professional development of the inspection staff.

* Enabling the tax administration to implement internationally recognized methods for direct control and statistical determination of the confirmed taxes for individuals failed to file tax returns.

* Use of the new possibilities for the abstraction of information from the banking system and cross-checking of data using appropriate information systems.

* Strengthening the capacity of the staff in the tax services by renewing and increasing the number of employees.

* Increased preventive controls and visible patrols to prevent illegal conduct.

* Increase of the speed and rate of response to signals from the citizens.

* Development of common operational plans with the new service to control economic crimes of the Greek police, port authorities, customs, municipal police, etc for a determined control of illegal trade.

* A new method for labeling of cigarettes and alcohol, installation of systems to measure incoming and outgoing fuels from the petrol stations, and mobilizing the tax service patrols at the sea.

* Implementation of systems for photographing from the air in order to locate undeclared pools and luxury homes.

* Gradual unification of the price of heating fuel with that of petrol with parallel subsidizing of costs for consumers.

* Establishing of cases of 'conspicuous consumption', ie individuals who have a luxurious lifestyle not corresponding to the taxes paid by them.

* Increase of the number of international treaties for the exchange of tax information, including special agreements with countries hosting bank deposits (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, etc.)..

* Gradual approximation of the objective assessment of the property to the market price.

* Restructuring of the services that are mobilized in cases of forcible collection of overdue payments on a central and regional level.

* Speed ​​mobilization of the new structure of auditors for compulsory collection of duties, which are selected on the basis of special skills and knowledge.

* Intensive training courses for auditors for the forcible collection of debts.

* Use of external consultants who will work in close cooperation with the tax services to find the debtors' assets to secure the claims of the state.

* Regular reporting of large borrowers with overdue debts exceeding 150,000 euro as provided in the new regulations.

* Activation of the regulations for the temporary detention of persons concealing their income to a large extent.

* Creation of a system for statistical monitoring of the results of the new judicial procedures.

* Systematic publication of the names of major offenders.

* Intensification of the administrative penalties for terminating the activity of professional equipment.

* Collection of data for depositors abroad (including the use of a credit card issued by a foreign bank), for which the origin of the funds has not been proven or the accumulated interest has not been declared. In particular, in such cases taxation of the capital and interest retroactively will be provided.

* Removal of the Code for books and data and the inclusion of the necessary provisions in the Code of income taxation.

* Streamlining of the Code of penalties and escalation of punishments based on the tax history of the taxpayer.

* Delegation of all the collection and payment of the tax authorities to the banking system.

* Performing automated inspections from a distance through an electronic company data transmission.

* Closure of a large number of tax offices and transfer of services for citizens which may not be available electronically from a distance to the Public service centers or to the "tax service counters".

* The carrying out of researches of the spectrum and methods for providing information and individual services to taxpayers. This includes a study of the organization of the internal service channels to provide information to a higher instance.

* Development of personnel, equipment and infrastructure of the above mentioned public services office.

* Campaigns to increase tax legislation compliance, which are targeted according to the industries with the help of specialized chambers and other collective bodies.

* Implementation of programs for shaping the tax awareness in secondary education.

* Provision of incentives for reporting of high tax compliance rate: a sign of exemplary taxpayer for traders and persons freelancers (which will be awarded after two consecutive inspections with no violations) and providing of tax concessions or facilitations for payment.

* Full mobilization of the Office for tax arbitrage.

* Organizing and implementing the procedure for administrative settling of tax disputes within the Ministry of Finance.

* The creation of a new office for internal affairs as part of the tax service, which will be directly subordinate to the Minister of Finance.

* Summary using of the information system ELENXIS for subsequent evaluation of the controls.

* Replacement of control procedures by tax certificates drawn up by accountants and auditors.

* Simplification and clarification of tax rules in particular in regards to the keeping of accounting books and corporate data and the definition of production costs.

* Conduct of regular training programs for employees and executives in order to create awareness of what is meant by unacceptable behavior.

* Activation of the new provisions for disciplinary councils with a new composition that will make them independent of the representatives of the employees.

* Activate the new provisions that impose penalties on officials in the ministry who had been arrested with charges of passive corruption, regardless of the amount.

* Speeding up the procedures for employees offenders using the new institution - a prosecutor for economic crimes.

* Creating a strong framework to protect citizens, providing fully the opportunity for signaling and receiving information about its development, without revealing the identity of the person who gave the alert.

* Creation of a new corps of inspectors for verification and compulsory collection that will be involved in specific "contracts" for achieving the objectives.

* Establishment of a new General Directorate for Control and collection of state revenues in order to acquire operational responsibility, but also capacity for planning, risk analysis and monitoring of control activities and fundraising.

* Establishment of a Special Service for tax arbitrage as an independent body for settling tax disputes.

* Closure or merger of a minimum of 180 tax offices based on specific objective criteria and concentration of power and human resources in the larger tax offices in every major city (with the exception of Athens, Thessaloniki and the islands).

* Transfer of many of the standard services for taxpayers from tax offices to the public service centers.