Almost 1 in 5 companies does not declare VAT

Nearly one in five companies now avoids even submitting a VAT tax return due to the crisis. Although they know they can get caught easily, they prefer not to submit their statements so as not to yield to the State the VAT they put in their coffers to meet their other needs.

The data of the General Secretariat of Information Systems shows that 1.1 million tax returns were not submitted in 2012, out of a total 5.3 million filed by those indebted.

It is striking that even when the GSIS contacted them to emphasize that they failed to submit even a zero statement, only 73,628 eventually filed VAT returns. Thus, the state received a total of 106.5 million euros.

Of the rest, the Finance ministry was able to examine just 21,057 cases in 2012, ascertaining a total of 434 million euros due in VAT tax, but receiving just 93.5 million.

Meanwhile, 444 inspections were carried out in large companies in 2012, but the state was able to collect only 72.9 million euros out of a confirmed total 111.3.

495 inspections of highly wealthy individuals were also conducted last year, which brought the state 17.4 million euros of the 22.2 confirmed.

And amidst all this, all certified taxes remain largely uncollected. The Greek state received only 2.5 billion euros of 53.5 billion in arrears, while the new gap created in 2012 by Greek taxpayers reached 13.1 billion euros.