Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue, known as AADE, is moving to speed up how it handles tax and customs complaints, introducing new rules designed to ensure faster intervention in cases considered high risk.
The reform concerns intelligence reports that often stem from tips or whistleblower complaints and may reveal instances of tax evasion or customs violations. Until now, such reports could languish in bureaucratic backlogs for weeks or even months, leaving valuable information unused. By setting strict deadlines and introducing a ranking system to measure the importance of each case, the agency aims to make the process more transparent and effective.
Under the new framework, local tax offices are required to register incoming reports in AADE’s electronic system within five days. Another five working days are then allowed for evaluation, a timeline that ensures cases are swiftly classified for potential follow-up. The scoring system ranges from “no interest,” which means the report is archived, to a top rating of “four,” which signals that urgent or immediate action must be taken. A business accused of issuing fake invoices while continuing operations, for example, would automatically be flagged at the highest level, prompting an immediate audit.
To further prevent delays, specialized audit centers in Athens and Thessaloniki will now process directly the reports that fall within their jurisdiction rather than passing them along to other departments. If a taxpayer has not yet been assigned to a center, the case will be randomly allocated to one of the two, a step meant to avoid bottlenecks.
AADE is also establishing a three-member committee at the Large Taxpayers Audit Center to review cases involving major corporations and individuals with very high incomes. Authorities argue that this is a critical step, since properly investigating such cases has the potential to bring substantial additional revenue into public coffers.
