Tax audits: what is changing in Attica and Thessaloniki – how they will be carried out in the future

From now on, the Audit Centers (ELKE) in Attica and Thessaloniki exercise expanded audit competence, with the aim of further strengthening tax compliance and reducing the phenomenon of tax evasion and tax avoidance.

The audit efficiency of the audit centers in Attica and Thessaloniki has been expanded

In particular, by decision of the Governor of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, Giorgos Pitselis, the general audit authority of the ELKE of Attica and Thessaloniki was henceforth extended to taxpayers falling under the jurisdiction of another ELKE, of the same prefecture.

For example, a company headquartered in Piraeus was until today exclusively controlled by the mechanism of the region in question. With the upcoming changes, an auditor from Chalandri or anywhere in Attica can go to audit this work.

The controller will be drawn by the algorithm

Audit cases will be assigned to ELKE in the provinces of Attica and Thessaloniki automatically based on a special algorithm, which will take into account the number of auditors in ELKE and the category of audits to be carried out.

Pursuant to the decision, at this stage, certain special audit powers of ELKE are kept in force in cases that, by their nature, require the audit to be carried out by a specific ELKE (tax refund audits when an autopsy is required), capital tax audits, imposition cases Taxes on ships, audits of registrants in special systems of the VAT law, audits of foreign persons who have been assigned a home VAT number, audits of AADE employees).

“Stagnant” cases are reviewed.

In the meantime, AADE has initiated audits of thousands of tax cases that were in the drawers of tax offices in Attica and Thessaloniki and have now been transferred to the six new audit centers already operating in Attica (4) and Thessaloniki (2).

The tax revenue threshold for 2023 has been set at more than 58 billion euros. The greatest burden of increasing revenues falls on the fight against tax evasion and avoidance and, in general, any form of fraud against the public interest.