The mandatory requirement to accept payments through IRIS now extends to legal entities. From November 1, 2025, all businesses are required to have activated the IRIS service on a professional account that has been declared to the AADE, either through web banking or by directly contacting their bank.
If a business has POS or ePOS, it must proceed to upgrade the terminal to support payments through IRIS, a process implemented by the POS or ePOS service provider. Non-compliance with the obligation by the November 1, 2025 deadline incurs a fine of 1,500 euros. The new measure aims for faster, safer and more economical transactions, while strengthening tax transparency. IRIS enables instant account-to-account payments in real time, offering convenience, security and tax compliance.
How it works
IRIS is an instant payment system (account-to-account) that allows customers to scan the QR code with their bank’s mobile banking app. The transaction is completed in real time, without intermediaries or additional charges. Businesses receive payment almost instantly and benefit from reduced fees compared to card payments.
Stores must update their POS systems so that the IRIS option appears when completing a purchase. For older POS systems, there must be a printed QR code that customers can scan. The AADE will monitor compliance and businesses that do not comply with the regulation may face penalties.
Benefits for consumers include more convenient transactions without using cards or CVV numbers, reduced fraud risk and instant payment via mobile. Businesses, for their part, benefit from lower banking charges and faster payment collection. The connection with DIAS systems also contributes to greater transparency and tax compliance.
However, implementing the system requires adapting POS and QR printing systems, with costs borne by the business.
The mandatory integration of IRIS marks a significant step in the country’s digital transformation.
The fines
It’s noted that IRIS transactions in the first eight months of 2025 reached 68 million, from just 787,000 in the corresponding period of 2020 – an increase of almost 86 times.
Additionally, there’s provision from the Ministry of Finance for imposing fines of 10,000 and 20,000 euros (depending on the type of books) on businesses that don’t offer this payment option to their customers.
Clarifications from the Athens Commercial Association on the IRIS system
The Athens Commercial Association sent an informational document to its members to clarify the framework of mandatory acceptance for legal entities of instant payments through the IRIS system, as it emphasizes “the fact is that the multitude of observed pending issues has caused great disruption to thousands of merchants.”
The compliance deadline
The informational document states the following in detail:
Establishment of obligation: Article 219, law 5193/11-4-2025: “Legal entities that are payment beneficiaries, in the context of their transactions with payers who act for reasons that do not fall within their commercial, business or professional activity, mandatorily accept payments through instant payment services.” It’s clarified that both physical and electronic stores (e-shops) are subject to compliance.
Compliance deadline for legal entities: The compliance deadline is Friday 31/10/2025 (par. 4, article 245, law 5193/2025) and not 1/11/2025, as erroneously published in various media.
However, despite the institutionalization of the obligation, banks are very likely to not have fully activated the capability to integrate IRIS into legal entity accounts by today, resulting in the lurking danger of fine imposition from 1/11/2025 for delays due to technical connection and system compatibility problems, for which businesses are not responsible.
Compliance deadline for sole proprietorships/Greek Professionals: The deadline for the initial phase of connection with the IRIS system was until 2/9/2024, but the general obligation to connect all businesses, including sole proprietorships, now begins on 31/10/2025.
Service activation
The process of activating the IRIS service for professional use is carried out through the internet banking of the partner bank, as upon completion of registration in the service, the business’s unique QR code will be generated, which will be distributed to customers to scan and complete their payments.
The IBAN that professionals and self-employed choose during registration must be declared in the AADE Professional Accounts Registry (myaade.gov.gr, through the path: Applications > Tax Services > Professional Account).
Fines/Sanctions: Non-compliance with the obligation will incur from 1/11/2025 onwards a fine of 1,500 euros (article 5, KYA 119899/2023).
It’s also noted that the timeline for the IRIS-POS or IRIS-electronic invoicing providers connection obligation will be determined by decision of the AADE administrator (par. 17, art.83, Law 5104/2024) and the prescribed fines are 10,000.00 euros (single-entry books) and 20,000.00 euros (double-entry books).
The adjustment period
Until today, AADE has not published the required decision and consequently, due to the complexity of the undertaking and possible technical obstacles, clear guidelines have not yet been given to businesses through a clear implementation timeline for the measure.
Since the process of completing payment acceptance through IRIS is a complex procedure that is not limited to simply activating an option in businesses’ internet banking, we recommend that you contact your partner bank as soon as possible so they can guide you appropriately.
It’s very likely that settling the obligation will require a series of necessary actions, such as: upgrading existing POS systems, activating QR codes, connecting e-shops with ERP, while the provided testing period and staff familiarization with new sales/payment acceptance methods are important parameters that should not be ignored.
