GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: John C. Dryllerakis, John Papadakis and Nikos Kalantzis, Dryllerakis Law Firm
• avoid the payment of taxes (eg, income tax, uni - form tax on the acquisition of ownership, special real estate tax, VAT, turnover tax, premium tax, withholding and imputable taxes, fees or contribu - tions and shipping tax) by not paying or paying incorrectly or reimbursing or setting off or deduct - ing or withholding taxes; and • issue false or fictitious tax records, as well as receiving fictitious tax records or altering such records, irrespective of whether they evade paying taxes or not. Under the Greek penal system, legal entities do not bear criminal liability. Accordingly, individuals who are engaged in the effective management, administration and representation of a legal entity (either by holding specific executive positions or by exercising de facto management duties) are considered perpetrators or accomplices in tax evasion. To that end, criminal liability due to tax evasion is correlated with the exact time at which a potential tax infringement took place and therefore may affect numerous persons who held one of the aforemen - tioned positions during the time period starting from the fiscal year in question and onwards, thereby bear - ing joint tax liability in accordance with Article 49 of the Greek Code of Fiscal Procedure. 6.3 Interaction Between Tax and Criminal Procedures In the event of the commission or attempted com - mission of a tax offence under the Greek Code of Fis - cal Procedure, a prompt criminal complaint must be filed by the Tax Administration or the Financial Police Directorate of the Hellenic Police Headquarters. Crimi - nal prosecution is initiated ex officio. The State may appear before the criminal courts in cases involving tax offences to support the prosecu - tion. When the prosecution concerns a misdemean - our, the State may also be represented by the head of the competent Tax Authority or an official designated by the head. In trials concerning tax offences, the physical appear - ance of the tax officers as witnesses at the hearing is not mandatory if a written statement has been submit-
ted to the competent public prosecutor or the court by the authority that conducted the tax audit regarding the case. However, the court may, ex officio or upon the defendant’s request, order a witness to appear to testify on matters essential to the outcome of the trial and that cannot be established solely from the case documents. 7. Administrative Co-Operation 7.1 Legal Framework for Administrative Co- Operation Greece has signed and ratified bilateral treaties for the avoidance of double taxation with: • 58 countries in the areas of income and capital tax; and • four countries in the area of inheritance tax. Additionally, Greece formalised its commitment to combat base erosion and profit shifting by depositing its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Con - vention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 30 March 2021. As per Article 28 (1) of the Greek Constitution, inter - national treaties, including those on double taxation, take precedence over domestic legislation, provided reciprocity is ensured. Consequently, in instances of conflict between domestic law and treaty law, the latter prevails. The interpretation of treaty provisions exclusively rests within the domain of Greek courts. Although not strictly bound by the OECD Commentary or the stance of Greek authorities, the Greek courts often draw heavily from these sources, which signifi - cantly influence their decisions. Between Greece and the EU member states, Direc - tive 2011/16/EU (incorporated into Law 4170/2013) on administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxa - tion is applicable. This Directive has been amended by the following: • Directive 2014/107/EU, effective from 1 January 2016, which introduced the automatic exchange of
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