Greece’s online tax and custom services network Taxisnet has processed an estimated 4.8 million tax returns so far, with a further one million returns to be processed by the end of August.
The situation with the network perfectly highlights Greece’s difficulties in adopting an efficient “eGoverning” platform; aside from the expected difficulties in filling the forms themselves (for which private accounting and tax offices were there to help), the network itself was unprepared to deal with the volume of traffic and to crosscheck data.
This has resulted in the Ministry of Finances having to audit hundreds of thousands of taxpayers (300,000 so far have been contacted). Aside from defeating the purpose of electronic governing, tax offices are clogged down with tax-payers asked to submit further information and amendments.
The greatest delays were caused by inefficiencies of the automatic cross-examination procedure regarding withheld taxes related to employers and insurance funds. In many cases, such as where businesses have not fully paid employees, the information and sums entered were wrong or not complete, causing further confusion to the system.
Delays in the system have also been attributed to essential inefficiencies of the tax system in Greece. Tax services, for example, will not offset and return taxes to anyone with outstanding debts to the State, even if a settlement has been agreed to. The Ministry has had to issue explicit instructions to expedite such procedures.
