Greece is preparing a new crackdown on organized tax evasion, turning to artificial intelligence and tighter scrutiny of company ownership after investigators uncovered a sprawling network of 2,000 businesses used to accumulate more than €203 million in unpaid taxes and social-security contributions. The scheme, involving some 1,300 suspected frontmen, has exposed longstanding weaknesses in Greece's tax-enforcement system and raised questions about why authorities failed to detect suspicious business activity earlier.
The government and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, Greece's tax agency, are considering new legislation and monitoring mechanisms aimed particularly at restaurants, coffee chains, bars and nightclubs—sectors where authorities have identified cases or indications of organized tax fraud.
At the center of the proposed overhaul is a financial-behavior registry designed to cross-check individuals' income, assets and business activities against their declared corporate roles.
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The system would flag suspicious discrepancies, such as unemployed individuals, pensioners or low-wage workers appearing as owners of companies generating millions of euros in revenue.
Authorities are also considering AI-powered risk assessments, tax-compliance scoring and mandatory in-person interviews with representatives of companies displaying suspicious ownership structures.
Another priority is identifying businesses that accumulate substantial tax debts shortly after incorporation, particularly those whose liabilities surge within their first eight or nine months.
Investigators would seek to trace the individuals ultimately controlling businesses that repeatedly close and reopen under different corporate identities, leaving unpaid value-added taxes and social-security contributions behind.
The proposals also include closer integration of tax records with Greece's official business registry and tighter oversight of debt-repayment arrangements.
Yet the government's technological ambitions face a more fundamental obstacle: a shrinking workforce of tax inspectors.
Retirements over the past two years have further depleted enforcement agencies, while many remaining inspectors are approaching retirement themselves. Recruiting and training specialized personnel has become increasingly urgent. Without additional staffing, the government's ambitious anti-evasion strategy risks becoming another reform that looks stronger on paper than in practice.
