‘Tekmiria’ system to be replaced

The use of taxpayers' assets as evidence of their living standards - known in Greek as "tekmiria" - is to be gradually phased out, starting next year, with the aim of abolishing by 2022, the government announced on Wednesday, with an alternative system of cross-checking replacing it soon.

The tekmiria system was first introduced in 1978 and was meant to determine whether a taxpayer's living standard, based on assets such as real estate, vehicles, swimming pools etc, was justified by their declared income.

To combat tax evasion, which remains rampant in Greece, the government will instead activate indirect monitoring techniques combined with the probing of the online transactions taxpayers make every year. This way the Finance Ministry expects to identify taxpayers who spend more than what they say they earn, while being in possession of expensive properties.