The Greek Government adopts e-invoicing to curb tax evasion.

After several administrative delays and rescheduling, e-invoicing is finally being rolled out in Greece. According to the European Commission, Greece has been facing the problem of tax evasion, and nearly 30% of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Greece tends to go unpaid. 

As economies worldwide are struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing VAT rates is not an ideal solution. Like most economies, Greece, too, is resorting to tightening the noose around tax evasion. This is being done by rolling out initiatives to digitalize tax operations in the country. One of these initiatives is that of e-invoicing. 

E-invoicing has been adapted and implemented in several countries around the world across various taxation systems and, after several delays, is finally seeing the light of day under the current Greek administration. In a nutshell, e-invoicing is a way for privately and publicly run businesses to report and communicate with tax authorities. 

From November 2021, all private and public businesses in Greece have been required to submit their account books to VAT authorities using an online platform called myDATA. The Independent Authority of Public Revenue is running this platform. The new e-invoicing initiative in Greece is currently only made applicable to businesses subject to Greek Accounting Standards. Simply put, corporations issuing invoices will be required to comply with the new e-invoicing requirements. However, if the invoice is already reported, the businesses to whom an invoice is issued are not required to report the same to the myDATA portal. 

All businesses will be required to report information in e-invoices to the myDATA portal, including Sales VAT invoices on business-to-business transactions and purchase invoices. In addition, businesses will also be required to report any general ledger transactions, payroll information, fixed asset transactions, business-to-customer transactions, cross-border transactions, and any transactions that haven’t already been reported through e-invoicing through e-books. 

Businesses can send information to the myDATA platform manually. However, manual upload of data is restricted to smaller firms. Medium to large scale businesses will be required to employ the services of a tax and accounting ERP or an e-invoice service provider to upload data to the myDATA platform. Additionally, companies in Greece can also use certified electronic cash registers to upload information of retail sales transactions to the myDATA platform. 

Some of the critical dates for myDATA implementation in Greece are as follows -