Greek tax authorities looking into German car makers

The reason for the investigations are the extremely low clearing prices at which German companies deliver their vehicles to Distributors in Greece. This price is the basis for a series of taxes, the lower the price, the lower the revenue of the Greek State from VAT, registration tax, and luxury tax. A Mercedes-Benz S-Class (S 500 CGI Blue Efficiency), for example, costs the Greek importer only 22,135 euros. The sale price is more than four times that.

Theodoros Floratos, director of the Greek authorities to combat economic crime (SDOE) told Der Spiegel: "We are investigating a number of international auto companies because of possible tax offenses." Mercedes-Benz and BMW assert that transfer pricesare based on international tax standards, and consistent with the OECD rules and European law.

The reason for the low transfer prices was the collapse of the Greek car market. Dealers are given favorable purchase prices so as to be in a position to attract potential customers with a high discount, says SPIEGEL