The IMF report entitled “How Tax Administration Supported the Recovery of the the Greek economy”, notes that the country has undergone continuous reforms since 2010, with the acceleration coming mainly from 2018 onwards.
According to the IMF, these changes have led to better taxpayer compliance and a noticeable boost in government revenues.
That Fund notes that the digital transformation of the tax administration was part of the overall effort to modernize the public sector and accelerated significantly after 2019. Already by the beginning of 2020, almost all transactions with the tax and customs authorities were conducted electronically, while the pandemic acted as a catalyst for even greater digitalisation.
Explosive rise in electronic returns and payments
According to the report, e-filing reached 100% for VAT returns in 2022, while for business tax returns it had already reached 99.9% by 2021. At the same time, from 2018 to 2023, e-filing rates in Greece exceeded both the European average and the average of OECD countries.
A significant increase was also recorded in electronic tax payments. The rate rose from 86.6% in 2018 to 99.2% in 2023, with a particularly large increase between 2021 and 2022.
The report also places particular emphasis on reducing tax evasion. As reported, the “VAT gap”, i.e. the percentage of tax not collected, has been reduced from 30% in 2011 to just 9% in 2024, which is described as a “significant achievement in reducing non-compliance”.
myAADE, myDATA and POS in focus
The IMF also refers extensively to the operation of the myAADE platform, which was implemented in September 2021 and replaced myTAXISnet. Through the new platform, taxpayers have access to all digital services of the AADE, such as returns, payment arrangements, property and car data and e-books myDATA.
At the same time, the mandatory transmission of accounting data to myDATA is considered one of the main reasons that reduced tax evasion. The pre-filling of VAT and business tax returns, as well as the linking of POS with cash registers from May 2024, also contributed to boosting real-time compliance.
Special mention is made of the creation of the POS in 2017, which the IMF describes as the most important reform of that period. As noted, the independence of the tax administration changed the way decisions were made, strengthened governance and protected its operation from political interference.
The IMF concludes that the reforms created a “virtuous cycle” where better tax governance brought more digitisation and digitisation led to greater compliance and higher revenues. In 2025, Greece’s tax revenues accounted for 28% of GDP, compared to 20.5% in 2009.
The next challenge, according to the report, is to harness artificial intelligence and data analytics to further enhance risk management, citizen services and trust in the tax system.
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