Greece Deploys AI to Catch Tax Cheats at Weddings and Luxury Events

Greek taxation authorities are deploying artificial quality to scan societal media for lavish weddings and events fraudulently declared to the authorities arsenic low-budget gatherings, successful an escalating crackdown connected 1 of the country's astir entrenched taxation evasion sectors.

Officials from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, known by its Greek acronym AADE, said the AI algorithms analyse photos and videos posted publically online to place high-end celebrations — featuring hundreds of guests and premium catering — that are reported to authorities arsenic humble affairs.

"The enactment is over," AADE officials declared successful announcing the initiative.

In the coming weeks, the authorization volition widen its Digital Client Register to lawsuit organizers, requiring them to pre-report impermanent numbers, lawsuit duration and paper costs earlier each event. Field inspectors volition past behaviour targeted, risk-based audits to place under-invoicing and unreported currency transactions.

Photographers, florists, DJs and different affiliated vendors volition autumn wrong the investigative net, and clients' declared spending volition beryllium cross-checked against their taxation profiles to emblem wealthiness discrepancies.

The integer registry has already generated important gross successful different sectors.

A parking installation successful Chania was precocious fined 14,000 euros aft inspectors recovered 140 unregistered vehicles and rejected the owner's assertion of method difficulties.

The Bank of Greece acknowledges the shadiness system remains supra the European average, and the European Commission estimates substance smuggling unsocial costs the authorities 500 cardinal euros annually.

AADE said recovered revenues from the broadening crackdown are cardinal to the government's people of a 4.4 percent superior surplus for 2025 — fiscal headroom that Athens says it intends to instrumentality to taxpayers done aboriginal taxation alleviation measures.

Βy Leito Missiakouli