Greek tax authority’s software loophole enables alleged multi-million euro fraud in restaurants and hotels

Investigations into two large-scale tax-evasion cases involving a restaurant chain and a hotel revealed that the businesses used proprietary software to conceal true earnings from ΑΑΔΕ. The restaurant whistle-blower approached the Economic Police, while a hotel receptionist in Ηπειρος reported that the booking software, certified by ΑΑΔΕ’s provider ΥΠΑΗΕΣ, could delete bookings and suppress receipts. Local tax offices dismissed the complaints, directing the hotel case to a different jurisdiction, and ΑΑΔΕ has not issued a formal audit despite receiving the reports.

The prosecutor’s office archived the hotel case, invoking article 81 paragraph 1 of law 5104/2024, which requires a referral from ΑΑΔΕ or the Economic Police to proceed. Critics argue that the certification process itself is compromised, and if the software flaw is confirmed, the fiscal loss to the state could reach millions of euros, affecting thousands of establishments across Greece.