The tax authorities no longer wait for income from social media collaborations and advertising to be declared. They can already see it. Through a fully interconnected digital system, payments made for promoting products and services are recorded and cross-checked almost in real time, creating a “net” that limits the scope for undeclared income.

The Annual Report 2025 and Planning 2026 of Independent Authority for Public Revenue outlines the transition to this new audit model. More than 1.22 million businesses transmit data via ERP systems, while invoice transmissions reach 795 million through ERP and exceed 2.25 billion through e-invoicing providers. In practice, almost every invoice issued leaves a digital footprint and can be audited.

This picture is complemented by the overall digitalization of the relationship between citizens, businesses, and the tax authority. Over 9.5 million declarations and certificates were submitted digitally within a year, while hundreds of thousands of requests and transactions are handled electronically. This means fewer and fewer data points remain outside the system.

This digital footprint is the core tool for audits. When a business pays for advertising, promotion, or collaboration, the amount is mandatorily recorded digitally and linked to a specific tax ID number. If the corresponding income does not appear or is declared at a lower amount, a discrepancy is automatically generated. The system detects the difference without requiring a complaint or on-site inspection.

These cross-checks now form the starting point of audits. Cases are not opened randomly, but where a “gap” emerges between income and expenses. The process may begin with a compliance notification and escalate to a full tax audit.

The report also highlights the scale of enforcement. In 2025, more than 290,000 audits and investigations were carried out, with assessed taxes and fines reaching €3.1 billion. At the same time, tens of thousands of on-site inspections and targeted compliance actions were conducted, confirming that the digital system operates alongside traditional audits.

The new model goes beyond invoices. The tax authority uses data from multiple sources: bank transactions, POS payments, booking and rental platforms, as well as data from digital applications that record business activity. The goal is to create a comprehensive “digital profile” for each taxpayer.

This profile aggregates income, expenses, transactions, and assets. Algorithms detect unusual discrepancies, such as low declared income combined with high consumption or continuous payments from businesses. These cases are categorized by risk level and become audit targets.

At the same time, the tax authority is strengthening the system with new tools such as the Digital Delivery Note and the Digital Client Registry, which allow real-time recording of transactions and activities. Using this data enables not only the detection of tax evasion but also its prevention.

The result is a fully interconnected electronic audit network that drastically limits the possibility of undeclared income. And as collaboration payments pass through businesses that transmit everything digitally, it becomes increasingly difficult for income to “disappear” along the way.