Taxpayers who have filed inaccurate tax returns and fail to make the necessary corrections in time are at risk of facing steep penalties — reaching as high as 50% of the additional tax owed. According to reports, once this year’s tax filing deadline closes on July 24, Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) will launch the first wave of digital cross-checks, targeting undeclared income as well as incorrect or false entries in taxpayer records.
Tax returns: Penalties for inaccurate filings — and the deadline to submit an amended return
Those caught in the digital audit net will face heavy financial penalties, the size of which depends both on the tax difference identified after the audit and on the type of return filed. Under the Tax Procedures Code, penalties for inaccurate income tax returns are calculated on a sliding scale based on the difference in primary tax identified during the audit.
Specifically:
• A 10% penalty is imposed on the tax difference when it represents between 5% and 20% of the originally declared tax;
• The penalty rises to 25% when the difference exceeds 20% and reaches up to 50% of the declared tax;
• It climbs to 50% of the difference when the additional tax exceeds 50% of the amount originally declared.
In this context, taxpayers who have already filed their return this year — as well as those who still plan to do so in the coming days (approximately 500,000 returns remain outstanding before last year’s total of 6.9 million is matched) — and who have doubts about the accuracy of certain fields are urged to review their electronic forms carefully, correct any errors, and submit an amended return.
The window for submitting an amended return without incurring a penalty closes on July 24 for taxpayers wishing to take advantage of the extended deadline granted for this year’s filings.
In addition to the penalties themselves, late payment interest also applies, currently set at 0.73% per month of delay, calculated on the amount of tax that was not declared on time. This can significantly increase the total amount owed, particularly when the omissions relate to prior tax years.
Meanwhile, for late or incomplete returns that result in no tax liability — including zero-balance and credit returns — fixed penalties range from €100 to €500, depending on the taxpayer’s status and whether the business maintains single-entry or double-entry bookkeeping.
Even harsher penalties apply to inaccurate VAT returns and withholding tax declarations. In these cases, the penalty is set at 50% of the tax difference identified during the audit. For example, if it is found that €3,000 in VAT was not remitted, a penalty of €1,500 may be imposed on top of the primary tax owed.
Similarly, an inaccurate E9 property declaration carries a fixed penalty of €100, while if the same discrepancies are repeated across multiple years’ declarations, only a single penalty may be imposed under certain conditions.
