Tax offences and tax evasion in Greece
Tax offences occur when taxes are not assessed, not fully assessed or not timely assessed because the taxpayer or obligated person intentionally fails to comply with fiscal obligations.
Sentencing ranges include:
- Failure to file or filing incorrect returns: 1–5 years where annual taxes exceed €15,000; 5–20 years where taxes exceed €150,000.
- Failure to file/remit VAT etc.: 10 days–5 years up to €3,000; 1–5 years for €3,000–€75,000; 5–20 years over €75,000.
- Falsified/fictional tax data: 3 months–5 years; 1–5 years for sham transactions over €3,000; 5–20 years over €150,000.
- Failure to pay debts to the state: 10 days–1 year, 6 months–5 years, 1–5 years or 3–5 years where aggregate debts exceed €5,000, €10,000, €50,000 or €150,000 respectively.
For legal entities, prosecution targets responsible officers (e.g., board chair/MD of an AG, general partners, managers of partnerships/GmbHs, managers/agents/representatives of foreign branches).
Examples:
- Acceptance of sham invoices
- Booking fictitious invoices to inflate expenses
- Board chair accepting inflated invoices to obtain higher subsidies
- Sales to foreign companies with sham invoices
- Sales to non‑existent Greek companies to capture VAT.