Greek government cracks down on tax evasion by "enforcing online spending"

According to a report in The Telegraph, Greek citizens will be required to spend around a third of their income electronically, otherwise, they will be hit with substantial fines designed to crack down on tax evasion.

The Greek government expects to raise around 500m euro from this new plan, Alex Patelis, the Greek Prime Minister’s chief economic adviser told The Telegraph in an interview.

In his pursuit to stamp out tax evasion, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed legislation that would require expenses submitted to the tax department: to be payments for goods and services paid via electronic means such as credit cards, online, e-banking etc and to amount to 30% of annual income.

Greece is reported to have one of the world’s largest shadow economies, with many firms and citizens underreporting income in an attempt to evade taxes.

The move is said to be part of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ plan to revamp the country’s tax system with the new PM announcing that the rate of corporate tax would be cut from 28% to 24% next year.