The owner of a parking business in Chania must pay fines totaling €11,200 following a tax audit carried out in November 2025. His appeal against the penalties was rejected by the Dispute Resolution Directorate (DED).
The audit was conducted on November 1, 2025, by a team from the Attica branch of the Public Revenue Investigation and Protection Service (YEDDE). Inspectors cross-checked the vehicles parked on the business premises against the data registered in the Digital Client Register of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).
During the process, they found 12 cars that had entered the parking lot before the team arrived, but whose entry had not been declared electronically. A fine of €100 was imposed for each vehicle, bringing the total for this violation to €1,200.
€10,000 fine over the POS
As part of the same audit, inspectors also examined the business’s electronic payment system. According to the findings, no EFT/POS terminal was available to confirm the required connection to the tax authority’s electronic system.
A €10,000 fine was imposed for this violation, bringing the total penalties to €11,200.
The owner appealed to the DED, asking for the fines to be canceled. Among other things, he argued that he was in pretrial detention at the time of the audit and that the Smart POS the business used had been seized by the Hellenic Police as part of a criminal investigation.
He also claimed that the parking lot continued to operate with the help of a foreign worker, who did not have the authorization needed to sign a new contract with a bank. In addition, he stated that he himself did not know how the Digital Client Register worked, and cited difficulties reading and writing in Greek.
Two more softPOS devices on record
However, when reviewing the case, the DED also took into account data from the Payment Instruments Registry.
According to this data, the business had a total of three softPOS devices. So, in addition to the terminal that had been seized, there were two more devices for which contracts had been signed with payment service providers.
Based on this information, the DED ruled that one of the other two terminals could have been used to connect with the cash register.
The decision also took into account the fact that the business remained in operation despite the owner’s detention. According to the DED, continuing to operate meant that the necessary steps should have been taken to ensure tax obligations were properly met.
The arguments about the worker’s language difficulties and his inability to use the electronic applications were not considered sufficient grounds for exemption from tax obligations.
With decision 2788/2026, issued on June 30, 2026, the Dispute Resolution Directorate rejected the appeal and upheld the fines imposed by the Chania Tax Office, totaling €11,200.
The owner may appeal to the administrative courts within 30 days of being notified of the decision.
