Empty value-added tax returns from businesses with regular activity, “disappeared” traders involved in tax evasion schemes, fictitious invoices worth hundreds of millions of euros and inaccurate income and VAT declarations make up the picture of tax evasion revealed by the audits of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) in 2025.
Through more than 290,000 audits, taxes and fines exceeding €3.1 billion were confirmed, reflecting the scope of delinquency in the market.
From the audits and cross-checks carried out by the AADE audit mechanism, there have been several cases that are notable: An insurer did not to declare €532,400 to the tax office, a hairdresser in Ioannina increased her assets from an unknown source by €472,200, as well as a worker who did not declare income of €334,815.
At the same time, the use of myDATA electronic books led to the identification of hundreds of businesses that declared zero income despite their activity, as well as thousands of cases of concealment of taxable material, with the imposition of additional taxes of tens of millions of euros.
According to data from the AADE, in 2025 124,630 businesses and professionals did not submit a VAT return. After sending the e-mail, 26,948 declarations were submitted, paying €44.8 million.
At the same time, according to AADE’s report using myDATA figures, 553 businesses were identified that had submitted zero VAT returns for the third quarter of 2023, while they were engaged in business activity. Of these, 251 businesses complied and declared an additional €17.5 million, for which they were asked to pay additional taxes of €1.3 million.
Also, during data cross-checking, 7,671 businesses were identified that should have included amounts in the zero VAT returns submitted for 2025, where an additional €48 million were confirmed. Electronic bookkeeping has apparently led to a significant reduction in tax evasion, and already, in the second year of operation of myDATA, the results are substantial.