“The Golden List” comprises consistent businesses and professionals to whom the tax authorities will immediately credit tax and VAT refunds, as prepared by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR). The list will include – based on criteria and conditions – businesses and professionals who have been audited in the past and have not committed tax offenses.
According to the plan, the IAPR will streamline the administrative procedures for VAT refunds to businesses by implementing automated VAT refund processes, electronic submission, and facilitating risk analysis for refund applications.
With the new process, human intervention is expected to be minimized through digital transactions, and delays in VAT refunds are to be addressed. The reform must comply with the directive regarding VAT refunds (Council Directive 2008/9/EC).
Specifically, the reform aims to:
1. Accelerate VAT refunds, which currently often experience significant delays.
2. Combat VAT refund-related fraud, based on risk analysis principles.
3. Automate and digitize VAT refund processes without human intervention.
4. Achieve the goal of direct VAT refund without inspection in 97% of applications.
5. Support consistent businesses and increase transparency.
Entities will be included in the “Golden List” only if, in the last three tax years, they meet the following criteria:
– They have not committed tax and customs offenses recorded in the “TAXIS” and “ICIS” systems, respectively.
– They are not deemed suspicious of participating in fraud related to intra-community transactions, based on risk analysis criteria evaluated centrally and not disclosed.
The goal for this year is to complete tax refunds amounting to €6.588 billion. Specifically, it is envisaged:
– Processing VAT refund requests within 90 days for at least 95% of cases.
– Automatically evaluating VAT refund requests periodically.
– Utilizing the Golden List of beneficiaries to expedite VAT credit refunds.
– Expanding the digitization of the tax refund process – Interoperability with EFKA / ΗΔΙΚΑ.
– Interoperability service in municipalities for digital commitment and release of commitment information.
