If you live in Greece and gamble online, I hope you report that income and pay the appropriate taxes. If not, you had better start. The Greek government has made it known that they are targeting tax evaders, including those who don’t pay taxes from online casino gaming.
There is an estimated €15 billion in so-called missing taxes each year for the Greek government. That means tax money that they should receive but do not because of tax evasion. As part of the rules given to them by the IMF, EU and Germany during the bailout, Greece must reduce that number and bring in more of that missing tax money. To that end, they have created a new team, called the Financial Police and Electronic Crimes Squad. That team is tasked with finding tax dodgers, including online gamblers.
Among the new powers given to that team is the ability to track bank accounts and stock market activity. That means there is a much better chance of noticing money made from overseas online sources, such as online casinos. Christos Papoutsis, the leader of the team, also says that online gambling is a major target because he thinks it costs the government €2 billion per year. “Greek banks are unwitting accomplices in this because all the transactions are done using credit cards,” he said.
Greece has long been considered one of the top European nations for tax evasion. Many online gamblers took advantage of that and simply didn’t pay tax on casino earnings. With the new team implemented to go after them, gamblers would be wise to pay their taxes legitimately.
Tags: gambling taxes, Greece online gambling
