Giorgos Pitsilis

Businesses that fail to replace their old cash registers with a machine from a list of 179 models by June 1 will face fines of 500 euros per tax audit, according to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR).

Greece's tax authorities are embarking on the relentless pursuit of tax dodgers in 2020, with tens of thousands of checks scheduled to take place this year by the country's Independent Authority for Public Revenue.

The legal framework planned for online accounting is in its final stage of preparation, Giorgos Pitsilis, chief of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, said at the 11th Thessaloniki Tax Forum on Monday.

Two tax inspectors came under attack while checking the books of a pizza restaurant in the seaside village of Platanias near Volos in central Greece on Thursday, with one of the two officials having to be hospitalized with a fractured arm.

As of the last quarter of this year, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue is set to start piloting an online bookkeeping system for companies in a bid to spare Greek enterprises the hefty administrative costs of conventional bookkeeping that compromise their competitiveness, the authority's head Giorgos Pitsilis announced on Thursday.

Giorgos Pitsilis, the head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, has been appointed president of the Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA) for the 2019-2020 period, it was announced Thursday.

The tax administration is planning more than 50,000 inspections around the country from July 1 to October 31, with an emphasis on regions which are witnessing increased tourism traffic.

State revenues exceeded their target last year by at least 420 million euros, according to provisional data for December shared by Independent Authority for Public Revenue Director Giorgos Pitsilis with the agency's employees in a letter.

Pitsilis predicted that the definitive data, due in the coming days, will show an even greater overrun.

Leading Greek officials confirmed at the 20th annual Capital Link Forum in New York on Monday that Greece is well on its way to recovery and vowed that the country will stick to its reform pledges and become a preferred investment destination.

Tax evasion remains rampant in Greece, as raids by tax officers nationwide have shown that 60 percent of businesses audited have violated Greek tax legislation.

Violations include failure to issue receipts, using POS terminals registered in other countries and tampering with cash registers.