How are companies and natural persons controlled?
At a very fast pace, but at the same time through the implementation of thorough checks by the tax control mechanisms, from this year the tax refunds after clearing tax returns as well as VAT refunds. The system is particularly simplified and does not require significant time, while the credits made through TtE have a particularly high frequency, at least once a week.
The first payments of the credit notes have been made on April 28, while the last ones on May 18, with the most recent update dated May 19.
Based on the latest available data, 688,185 tax returns have been submitted, of which 22.02% have a credit report, i.e. 151,538. Of these, 94,209 taxpayers have already received money back – an immediate refund – a percentage that corresponds to 67.33%, of those who have entered the final stretch, and this is because although a number have been settled, neither the offsetting of debts, nor the immediate return.
The average amount of those who have received money back is 215 euros, while those who have a credit report in their hands is 321 euros, it was reported to APE BEE.
The clearing statements for which the central netting has proceeded amount to 32,654 statements. Cumulatively for those that have been carried out, either the central netting or the direct return, amounts to 126,901.
It is worth noting that the steps that AADE follows when returning taxes are, among others, the following:
• credit amounts of one spouse or parties to a cohabitation agreement are not set off against any debts of the other and in the event that both have credit amounts, they are returned to each beneficiary separately.
• the tax refund of the spouses or cohabiting parties resulting from their joint declaration is entered in the books of refundable amounts of the taxpayer’s DOU, even in cases where the spouses have a different DOU due to the fact that one of the two (or both ) is engaged in business activity or due to a different tax residence.
• before the refund of the personal income tax to the beneficiaries, cross-checks are carried out by Taxisnet, in order to establish whether the beneficiaries of the refund are tax aware, i.e. whether they have debts to the State, but also to the insurance funds.
At the same time, taxpayers who have not committed serious tax violations in the past and at the same time do not have overdue debts receive priority refunds VAT.
The tax refund system has been expedited through an integrated and automated system, using a risk analysis process for refund applications and limiting human intervention.
In particular, for this year, tax refunds will amount to 6.59 billion euros, while the interventions planned by AADE foresee the following:
• The processing of VAT refund requests within 90 days at a rate of at least 95%.
• The evaluation of VAT refund requests automatically on a periodic basis.
• The utilization of a “Golden List” of beneficiaries for the acceleration of VAT credit balance refunds.
• The gradual, per year, reduction in the processing time of VAT refund requests.
• The immediate refund of taxes at a rate of more than 95% for all taxes.
• Conducting at least 4,000 checks on tax refunds.
At the same time, a “white list” has been created which includes companies which:
• They have been audited for at least three tax periods and the VAT amounts ultimately refunded did not deviate by more than 5% from the amounts they claimed
• They have not committed any tax or customs violations
• They have not been identified as suspected of involvement in intra-Community transaction fraud after applying risk analysis criteria.
Those who pass through the whitelist gates will be able to expect an immediate credit of VAT refunds to their bank account immediately after submitting the claim online.
The automated process is followed for the majority of refund requests and specifically for 97% of tax refund requests.
