Following Wednesday's meeting, Juncker said the "intense work" would continuea sentiment echoed by Luxembourg's Finance Minister. If they go to the mechanic, it is one price without a receipt and quite a bit more with it, Mr. Bakouris said. if (typeof(window._mpspixZ) != 'string') { Published 3:23 AM ET Wed, . Many Greeks say tax collectors have a reputation for being among the easiest officials to bribe. The third cause is equally clear. (function(){ Under CTLs management, ownership of the three companies became even more opaque. Simple Tax Guide for Americans in Greece - Taxes For Expats var _qs = window.location.href; Some of the shareholders of the offshore company were managers of ISI: David Adams, Johan Boskemper, Gerhard Mazenier, Heinz Winter and David Tham. So far, no one on the Lagarde list is facing legal action, though officials, answering questions in Parliament earlier this month, said 150 audits were under way. mps.response.dart.adunits[i].data = ''; According to a recent report by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Greeks owe about $70 billion in unpaid taxes to the state, about a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. This is asummary of the basic results. A deal between cash-strapped Greece and its lenders over reforms is apparently "close," but differences over the detailand questions over whether they can be reconciledstill remain. } Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. SOCIAL_MEDIA: 8 'cag[type_source]' : 'Reuters' , Around 60% of global trade takes place within multinational groups with intra-group transactions, where there is ample room for tax avoidance. Many of the Greek-owned companies in the ICIJ data are incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a chain of coral and volcanic islands in the Caribbean. Such incomes defy belief, said Ilias Plaskovitis, the general secretary of the Finance Ministry, who has been in charge of revamping the country's tax laws. Mr. Plaskovitis said that tax collectors had already begun using technology to crosscheck claims and that they had taken steps like asking luxury car dealerships for list of their clients. Documents obtained by ICIJ reveal that the single shareholder behind the mysterious entity was Apostolos Vakakis, chairman of the retail conglomerate Jumbo SA, one of Greeces largest companies. //end OneTrust Redirect (function() { Some say tax troubles are usually solved in a three way split: You pay a third of what you owe to the government, a third to the collector and a third remains in your pocket. But why doesnt the Greek state address the problem of tax evasion? Boing Boing is published under a Creative Commons They made Christina GP one of the partners. Charter prices start at $60,000 a day for a small group. I think it is key that a solution is found because weGreece and the Eurogrouphave the same goal that Greece should stay in the euro zone," he added. This was but one example of how upper middle-class Greek citizens hide their assets . "While both sides remain in disagreement over some key issues, progress does seem to be being made," he said in a note, but added that as there was still some way to go he "refused" to get too optimistic. But many Greeks have little confidence that any of them will add up to much. TIL that with only 324 households declaring ownership of a swimming console.log('PUB-GDPR-CHECK oneTrustCookie: ', oneTrustCookie); From EUR 20,001 to EUR 30,000. Washington, D.C. 20036 USA. The tax administration is planning to uncover undeclared swimming pools across Greece with the use of aerial photographs taken by Google Maps and the electronic cross-checking of the findings with the data from the land register and the E9 tax form. They bragged of using aerial photographs to get tax evaders who failed to declare their swimming pools on tax returns as required. The document proposes hiking taxes on luxury items such as planes, helicopters, gliders and swimming polls to 13 percent from 10 percent. } } These taxpayers combined paid less than 1% of the total tax revenue. None of the Cook Islands entities created by Papanicolaou and Fitzpatrick to acquire and remodel the yacht appear in the list of Greek-owned offshore companies maintained by the Ministry of Finance. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox. Depending on the type and location of the property, there are some cases in which the financial burden for property taxes might be significant, so lets review them: For a foreigner who doesnt have income in Greece at all, this is the only tax applied. But it remained unclear how aggressive the investigation was. He said his own sister had recently told him that she was uncomfortable asking her doctor for a receipt. }; Thirty-four of them claimed less than $13,300, a figure that exempted them from paying any taxes at all. Tax dodgers at the sharp end of discontent in Greece At the same time, however, 35,1% acknowledge that they would readilyevade their taxes if the opportunity arose, because everyone doesit., var mps = mps || {}; One does not use a legal entity in order to hide the identity of the beneficial owner by using shadow names but to be able to complete a transaction in a straightforward manner, said Vakakis. In contrast to what many believe, the largest part of the shadow economy (around two thirds of it) is attributable to undeclared employment - and that is one sector that has increased rapidly during the crisis.