IRIS: Short extension for mandatory registration in the payment system

Extension of the deadline for hundreds of thousands of freelancers to register in the payment system IRIS announced the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis.

From the floor of the annual assembly of the Hellenic Banking Union, Mr. Hatzidakis announced a “short extension” for the connection with the system IRIS, without revealing however the exact period. He mentioned that there will also be a special update from AADE in the next period, for the debtors concerned by the measure.

Please be reminded that the deadline ends on June 30.

Those who do not connect to IRIS in time will face a fine of 1,500 euros while those who do not register a business account will be asked to pay a fine of 1,000 euros.

IRIS Extension

The Ministry of Finance plans to gradually expand IRIS to all businesses by March 2025.

Freelancers and self-employed are obliged to accept direct payments without a card, with direct transfer of funds to the beneficiary’s account.

Through the IRIS service in mobile banking, professionals collect within seconds debts from their clients who make their payments knowing only the mobile phone number or the professional’s tax identification number, without knowing their IVAN.

Indeed, to further facilitate the customer, the professional can provide the mobile number or VAT number in the form of a QR code to be scanned.

The controls

As regards the debtors and the audit procedure, the current legislative regime provides for the following:

  • Payees accept means of payment by payment card and means of payment with direct payment services from account to account, such as the IRIS online payments service, as long as they provide services to consumers or operate with Activity Code Numbers (ACN) included in the relevant list. Excluded are visually impaired people with a disability rate of 80% or more and automatic product vending machines (vending machines) until 31.12.2024.
  • Competent authorities for carrying out controls are defined by the Interagency Market Control Unit (DIMEA) of the Ministry Development and the competent audit services of the Regions of the country.
  • The services of the General Secretariat of Tax Policy and the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE), if, in the context of the audits they carry out based on their responsibilities, establish a violation, they complete and forward a relevant audit report to the competent authorities for the attestation of violations and the imposition of fines.
  • The competent authorities set up control levels consisting of at least two employees.
  • Payees electronically declare one or more business accounts on the AADE website (www.aade.gr) using the credentials that users have for all AADE online services, within a period of one month from the start of activity.