Tax scam under investigation

Greece's Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) is reportedly planning to send thousands of notices to taxpayers who amended their initial tax declarations and managed to either significantly reduce their due tax or to secure large tax refunds due to suspicion of widespread tax fraud.

The move came after the country's financial crimes unit, SDOE, this week said that an unknown number of accountants and possibly taxpayers had attempted to cheat the state out of a total of 5 million euros by claiming fake donations toward servicing the Greek debt or political parties. If approved, the claimants would receive a 20 percent deduction and a refund which in some recorded cases could reach 45,000 euros.

Accountants say tax offices usually only request proof of such expenses when the tax refund exceeds 10,000 euros, but they admitted that even such amounts don't always...