E-Bookkeeping & E-Invoicing mandatory in Greece: MyDATA 2020

The soon to be introduced electronic reporting in Greece shall reduce the VAT gap and modernize the Greek tax system. Find out who is affected, what is actually new and which duties come along with this new regulation.

UPDATE: The implementation of this new measure will be delayed until April 2020!

So, what’s new?

In the last months, the Independent Public Revenue Authority (IAPR) got in contact with various accounting system providers for the proposed implementation of an electronic platform.

This public consultation ended last month on 6 September 2019 and the implementation for these new digital records will start on 1 January 2020.

That means from next year on, all tax payers (yes, also VAT payers) who are registered in Greece will have to do their accounting digitally, using the e-bookkeeping application my Digital Accounting and Tax Application (myData).

Why this change?

The introduction of this new e-bookkeeping is meant to digitize the Greek tax system and to offer a platform on which tax payers can take care of the tax. Further, the Greek VAT gap shall be decreased.

As a result of this innovative solution, taxpayers will be relieved from some of their filing obligations, which will be fulfilled automatically by this application.

How does it work?

Digital records have to be made – big surprise – digitally, so by using the official online platform. These digital records will automatically be sent to the Greek tax office and the required information will be submitted via the myDATA platform. It mainly consists of 2 books:

The Record Book: It records all transactions that were submitted to myDATA and classifies them (income/epense).

The Summary Book: The in the record book classified information get summarized in the summary book and depicts accounting and tax obligations.

Which records need to be saved?

It’s about keeping your digital records up-to-date and about having those records digitally in the first place. There are 2 sets of data which are relevant and need therefore to be distinguished here, which are 1. e-invoices and 2. e-books.

When do I have to provide my data?

The submission itself will be on a monthly or on a quarterly basis – that depends on the filing frequency of the tax payer and the respective requirements.

Submitting the data needs to be done before the 20^th day after the end of the month in which the relevant invoices were issued.