Thousands of property owners who received notices from the Greek tax authority (AADE) for undeclared income from short-term rentals for the years 2020–2023 are being called to submit amended tax returns, or they will face thorough tax audits and the imposition of additional taxes and penalties.
Short-term rentals: Deadlines for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023
For property owners being audited for the 2020 tax year, the compliance deadline expires on June 15, 2026, while for 2021, 2022 and 2023, taxpayers have until July 30, 2026. Special emphasis is placed on 2020 cases, as the statute of limitations deadline approaches at year-end and pending issues must be resolved immediately.
According to AADE, the data emerged after cross-checks performed by tax services with information sent by the Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo platforms. The audits revealed cases where income from property exploitation was either not declared at all or appeared reduced compared to data transmitted to the myDATA platform.
AADE then sent electronic messages calling on property owners to either submit amended returns or electronically send their views and clarifications if they believe the cross-check data is incorrect.
Those who choose to comply will be required to pay additional tax corresponding to undeclared amounts, along with late payment interest. Additionally, a penalty for inaccurate declaration is imposed, which is reduced to 25% of the tax difference in case of voluntary compliance.
Normally, the penalty amounts to 50%, however a reduction is provided for those who accept the cross-check results and submit amended returns. Conversely, those who don’t respond to the tax authority notice will face thorough tax audits, as well as the imposition of additional taxes, interest and increased penalties.
Airbnb: The ‘trap’ with platform commissions
A significant part of the identified discrepancies concerns digital platform commissions. Many owners declared to tax authorities the net amounts they received, deducting commissions paid to platforms. However, AADE considers that these specific commissions are not deductible from real estate income and takes into account the gross amounts transmitted by platforms.
This position is based on Income Tax Code provisions, according to which these specific expenses are not included in deductible expenses from property income. The issue has already caused reactions among property owners, several of whom have pursued legal appeals for similar cases from previous years, without being vindicated so far.
Nevertheless, the disagreement over short-term rental taxation methods remains open, with the coming weeks considered critical both for audit progress and the stance thousands of taxpayers will take regarding tax authority notices.
