Greece to Mandate Electronic Tax Data Reporting in April
24/01/2020
In December, the Greek parliament approved rollout of the electronic tax reporting system via the publication of Tax Reform Act 464. The start date was set at 1 April, 2020.
The law is the result of a public consultation conducted by the Greek tax authority (IAPR)last year. The process had selected companies to test the My Digital Accounting and Tax Application (myDATA) public platform and the proposed schema to file digital tax statements.
What does the Greek e-VAT compliance system involve?
Starting on 1st April, companies must declare certain tax and accounting data electronically via the myDATA platform.
Which companies does it affect?
All companies that meet the requirements established by the Greek government regardless of company size, type, and accounting scheme.
What information must be declared via myDATA?
Different data must be declared to the authorities via myDATA depending on the role of the taxpayer, i.e., whether it is an “issuer” or a “recipient” of documents.
Document issuer: Summary of revenue documents received for tax purposes.
Document recipient: Summary of a company’s expense documents for tax purposes, received from issuers not obliged to transmit these documents via myDATA, or which did not do so for some reason (intra-Community acquisitions, imports, etc.).
All companies:
Classification of the transmitted summaries of a company’s revenues and expense documents (e.g., purchase or sale of goods, services, fixed assets, etc.).
All companies must also submit accounting adjustments to evaluate the fiscal year’s accounting and tax results,.e.g., payroll, depreciation, accrued income/spending, etc
Two electronic books will be generated from the accounting and tax information submitted to myDATA:
Record books: containing revenue and/or expense document data, the classification of these documents, and the accounting adjustments.
Summary books: reflecting the company's tax and accounting results in aggregated form, based on the information provided in the record book.
For now, the new digital tax reporting model will coexist with the current VAT reporting model. IAPR will cross-reference the data submitted to the myDATA platform with VAT statements. In the event of discrepancies, taxpayers will have two months to correct errors. Failure to correct said errors before the deadline could trigger audits by the tax authority.
These changes mark progress in the digital transformation of the Greek government, which is following in the footsteps of other European countries such as Spain and Hungary on tax matters.
In addition to tax digitalization, this year it will become mandatory for Greek public authorities to receive electronic invoices in the manner laid out by European Directive 2014/55/EU, starting 18th April.
EDICOM GLOBAL E-INVOICING & VAT COMPLIANCE
The EDICOM GLOBAL E-INVOICING & VAT COMPLIANCEplatform allows businesses to exchange electronic invoices and documents both B2B and B2G. Operating in over 70 countries, the solution is adjusted to the legislative requirements of each region. It is especially designed for multinationals operating at a global level. The solution allows them to handle their transactions from a single communications platform, facilitating efficient, immediate, and secure document exchange.