Greek tax officials pose as tourists to ferret out Airbnb renters not declaring incomes

Competent authorities have launched the chase posing as customers trying to locate cpersons that have not declared their properties while renting them.
Information has shown that controls have already begun in areas where the Airbnb phenomenon is rising, with tax officials approaching landlords or house managers as customers.

In fact, the approach has to do with trying to achieve a better price by not declaring the rental of real estate. 

Inspection by the Tax Office continues, however, by cross-indexing the data from the electronic platform and the remittances that have been paid. The owners of the properties are then summoned by the tax office to justify the amounts of remittances they have received from Airbnb for the tourist exploitation of their property.

All contracts concluded from 1 January 2018 onwards must be declared by law. Otherwise, real estate managers are threatened with fines of up to € 5,000.
However, the short-term rental of real estate has flourished in Athens in recent years, and today there are more than 6,500 advertisements online.