The Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) seems to have found an unexpected ally in the battle against tax evasion: the citizens themselves. Through the digital application “Appodixi”, consumers can check the legitimacy of the receipts they receive and, if they detect irregularities, report them to the Tax Administration – anonymously or anonymously.

Over 200,000 reports on Appodixi

Since September 2022 to date, 208,534 complaints have been filed, of which 112,855 are anonymous and 95,679 anonymous, for “problematic” receipts that were not forwarded or had discrepancies. The predominance of anonymous reports shows that the incentive of financial rewards works: when checks prove the illegality, the complainant receives a reward corresponding to ten times the value of the receipt, up to a maximum of €3,000.

58,907 complaints on the AADE platform

The special complaints platform that will be operational from October 2023 in the online environment of the AADE is also receiving a great response. To date, 58,907 complaints have been submitted, of which:

– 51,252 relate to tax violations

– 753 customs offences, mainly smuggling cases

– 6,902 incidents of corruption

In order to make more effective use of the complaints, the governor of the Hellenic Tax Authority, Giorgos Pitsilis, proceeded to set up a three-member committee at the Center for the Control of Large Taxpayers (C.E.M.F.). Its task is to evaluate and prioritize information sheets so that the most serious cases are immediately brought to audit.

Each complaint is “filtered” and scored based on its risk and severity. Those that score high trigger immediate audits, while those of low importance are put on file.

The rating scale

The reports that arrive at the AADE are channeled through an automated system to the competent services and are categorised as follows:

0: Case of no interest – put on file

1: Information of little interest.

2: Significant information requiring further investigation.

3: Very interesting and critical information – forwarded for immediate review.

4: Extremely important information requiring immediate and rapid intervention.

The scoring and prioritization process allows the Tax Administration to focus on the most critical cases, preventing significant revenue losses and accelerating the detection of hidden income, illicit enrichment and money laundering.