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POS mandatory in taxi, delivery and cash businesses - What's changing

Tue 11 Jul 2023

The extension of the mandatory acceptance of payments with debit or credit cards, through POS machines, to all business activities, even in small villages, is planned by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. This is one of the many projects that will be run personally by the "architect of the electronic tax office", current Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Haris Theocharis, who laid the foundations since 2012 to connect the cash registers with the AADE today.


Among the industries that are currently not required to have a POS (however many use it on an optional basis) are:

  • Some theaters - cinemas
  • Cab
  • Booths
  • Some parking
  • Sports venues, gyms
  • Retailers in street markets etc
  • Traditional cafes in villages
  • Other business sectors that are currently exempt


According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, electronic transactions have exploded in recent years. Particularly:

  • In 2019, purchases with cards or other electronic means reached 40.6 billion euros
  • In 2020, at 44.7 billion euros
  • In 2021, at 53 billion euros and
  • In 2022 it is estimated that they exceeded 65 billion euros.


According to data from the Bank of Greece, in 2022 the total number of active payment cards in circulation reached 20.6 million, up by 4% compared to 2021. The total number of payment card transactions reached 1.93 billion from 1.65 billion in 2021, up 16% from 2021. Debit cards continued to be the main substitute for the use of cash, accounting for 92% of the total number of transactions with all types of payment cards. As for the value of payment card transactions, it reached 94 billion euros, an increase of 14% compared to 2021.

The increase in electronic transactions has reduced the losses from potential VAT collections to 2-3 billion euros from 5-6 billion euros that were until recently!

At the same time, the electronic interface of the cash registers with the POS was found at the fifth stage of its implementation, at the end of June, that it suffers from technical problems and will probably be delayed for a while longer. Maybe until the beginning of 2024! In fact, the European Commission in its latest report on the Stability Program of Greece states that tax compliance could be improved by expanding the application of electronic payments and the increased use of information derived from electronic payments. As an example he cited the discrepancy recorded between the low declared incomes and the turnover of the self-employed.


Πηγή: https://forologikanea.gr/


For more information, as well as for accounting servicestax coverage and planningpayroll processing and managementstarting a new business-company formation and all kinds of tax issues, you can always contact the Logistiki Sinepia Kalogirou.