The decade 2020-2030 is characterised as the decade of digital transformation of the public sector and private businesses, which promises - among other things - the possibility of more effective state controls on tax evasion for both businesses and individuals.

The digitalisation of accounting - with the automation of entries and the immediate transmission of data - should reduce the costs of businesses and errors, while the accountant should become the "controller" of compliance with tax law and procedures.

However, the tendency/tendency of pre-filled returns raises serious concerns especially if the taxpayer is not granted the right to intervene and modify the pre-filled fields.

According to article 32 of Law 4987/2022 (Code of Tax Procedure), when a tax return is submitted by the taxpayer on his own initiative and with his own diligence, an administrative tax assessment is issued.

In this case the issue and confirmation of the tax is immediate, without prior control or hearing of the taxpayer because, in principle, the resulting tax is based on data declared by the taxpayer himself!

Notwithstanding the general rule of Article 32 of the Tax Code, it is stipulated that if an administrative tax assessment act is issued on the basis of data other than those contained in the taxpayer's tax return, the tax administration must specifically mention the data on which the tax assessment was based.

The general conclusion with regard to the content of the above provision is that, in principle, direct assessment and imposition of tax following a tax return can only be carried out when the taxpayer, of his own free will, has completed and accepted the information and content of the tax return submitted by him.

On the contrary, in the case of a pre-completed return, if it does not allow the intervention of the taxpayer and the possible modification of the elements of his return in case he does not accept them, we have a violation of the content of the purpose of Article 32 of the Tax Code and, in general, of the way tax returns have operated up to now, where the direct confirmation of tax based on a return is subject to the strict and self-evident condition that the taxpayer has absolute right and control over the elements he declares.

Otherwise, it is as if a tax is imposed on facts that he does not (necessarily) accept, depriving him, before the tax is assessed, of the stage of the prior hearing so that he can complain before the administration about the inaccuracy of the pre-filled data and request their correction.

Therefore, the provision of the possibility for the taxpayer to intervene in the data of the pre-completed return is necessary.

In case the tax administration does not accept the correctness of the data completed by the taxpayer (for accuracy, the taxpayer has changed the pre-filling), there is the possibility of an audit and the issuance of a corrective tax assessment pursuant to Article 34 of the Tax Code, after the audit has been carried out and subject to the additional guarantees provided by this procedure (right to a prior hearing on the disputes referred to in Article 28 of the Tax Code prior to their imposition and the right of appeal pursuant to Article 63 of the Tax Code). In addition, the 'fraudulent' non-acceptance of incorrect pre-filled information by the taxpayer, who deliberately intervenes and changes it (when it is in fact correct) in order to avoid the immediate assessment of tax, cannot be a justification for the 'locking' of the pre-filled fields, since anyone who interferes incorrectly with the declaration will subsequently face adverse penalties such as fines for inaccuracy under Article 53 of the VAT Code, procedural penalties under Article 54, etc.