One click will show you the stores that accept the tax card

The Finance ministry has launched a new page on the Internet that advertises the addresses of the first 9,500 Greek businesses that accept the tax card. 

By clicking on http://www.gsis.gr/karta/pinakas.html#karta#minfinGR, everyone can find the businesses in their neighborhood that accept the tax card, based on the geographical district and postcode of the area. 

It is an attempt by the GSIS to pique the interest of consumers to obtain the card. So far however, participation is not particularly impressive. Although we have entered the third month of the year and most reasonably taxpayers have already begun to gather and record the receipts from their purchases, by 28/2/2012 51,641 cards had been activated (31.932 through SMS and 19,709 through TAXISnet). 

In reality, however, the number of stores that have sent tax card data is much smaller than the approximately 9,500 companies featured on the website of the ministry. About a month ago, GSIS sent a note to these companies, asking them to contribute to the use of the tax card. But on several occasions shopkeepers say they still have no idea how to use the card. 

Its use is fairly simple since all a shop owner has to do is swipe the card in its machine and punch in the amount of the receipt. 

 

However, as Proto Thema has uncovered, since February 20 and due to lack of interest, the ministry has turned to inspections, even retroactive ones, concerning transactions by credit card, and is thinking of giving tax bonuses for online purchases with credit cards. It is also studying incentives for consumers to use credit or debit cards, returning taxes such as 1-2% of the total value of annual purchases. 

The first phase of the project is to begin immediately. The GSIS is gathering data from card sales by banks for 2009, 2010 and 2011. They will be the basis for retroactive audits, as hundreds of thousands of companies have avoided submitting VAT returns, illegally withholding the tax amount. 

After the cleanup, the ministry will begin the monthly monitoring of sales with plastic money. Each month the ministry will know through the banks which company had sales and which didn’t. Although this regards the part of its revenue from sales using card rather than cash transactions, the GSIS will be able to immediately identify all those who swap their tax money. 

 

Originally there was a proposal to reduce VAT from 23% to 20% and from 13% to 10%, when the transaction is performed by credit card. The Troika reacted to this proposal, but it is gaining ground again, especially if tax is returned from income tax of the year as a percentage of the turnover that will come via credit cards. 

If the plan for 1-2% return from the IRS eventually succeeds, it could give consumers a break, especially if combined with the reward programs offered by the banks themselves to the users of plastic money. For example, a card may return 360 euros per year for total annual purchases of 10,000 euros and this amount could include an additional 100-200 euros from IRS bonuses. 

The plan is compatible with the suggestions of the Reichenbach group, which has proposed that in each transaction through credit and debit cards or checks, the bank should withhold the VAT tax and reimburse it directly to the government, relieving businesses from the "trouble" (and Funds from the amounts of VAT of the transaction). As for the spread of plastic money as a tool against tax fraud, the ministry is also promoting the measure ofrefusal of cash transactions in excess of 1,500 euros, which has officially been in effect since January 1, 2012.