These figures highlight the two sides of Greece’s short-term rental market today. On the one hand, it is an activity with a significant economic footprint, which has developed into a key part of the tourism market and provides a source of income for thousands of property owners. On the other hand, its rapid growth has created an environment of increased tax obligations, with AADE seeking to reduce discrepancies between actual earnings and the amounts reported in tax returns.
According to figures presented by AADE Governor Giorgos Pitsilis at the Prodexpo 2026 conference, the use of information from digital platforms has already produced significant results. A notable example concerns income earned in the 2023 tax year, when electronic cross-checks identified approximately 34,000 taxpayers who had failed to include income from short-term rentals in their tax returns.
The tax authority’s intervention led to the submission of 37,000 voluntary compliance declarations, revealing additional income of €105 million. This amount does not represent taxes collected by the state, but rather taxable income that was disclosed retrospectively and can now be subject to the applicable taxation. The higher number of declarations compared with taxpayers is explained by the fact that a single taxpayer may submit more than one declaration or correction.
This case is a clear example of the changes that have taken place in the way AADE monitors the activities of property owners and managers. Whereas in the past detecting undeclared income required more targeted and time-consuming audit procedures, comparing electronic records now makes it possible to identify discrepancies on a large scale.
Declared rental income reached almost €1 billion in 2025
The intensification of tax audits comes at a time when the financial figures of the short-term rental market continue to grow. According to available AADE data, 2,466,075 short-term stay declarations were submitted in 2025, with total declared rental income reaching €973.7 million.
Compared with 2024, when the corresponding income stood at €888.9 million, this represents an increase of approximately €84.9 million, or around 9.5%. This development confirms that the market continues to demonstrate significant economic momentum, despite changes to the regulatory framework and the increased obligations placed on property managers.
The change in the average declared rental amount is also noteworthy, reaching approximately €395 per declaration in 2025, compared with around €360 in the previous year. This change reflects an increase in the average amount declared per stay, although it does not necessarily mean that accommodation prices increased at the same rate, as the final amount is also influenced by the length of each booking, seasonality and the mix of available properties.
Even more striking is the long-term growth in declared income. As Giorgos Pitsilis pointed out, the market has grown from approximately €70 million recorded in an earlier period to almost €1 billion today, representing more than a tenfold increase in declared amounts.
This growth is linked both to the expansion of the sector and to the gradual inclusion of a greater share of actual income in the tax system. The mandatory registration of properties, cooperation with international platforms and the ability to cross-check data have contributed to the development of a more comprehensive market monitoring mechanism.
How the new data cross-checks will be carried out
The new audits focus on income earned in 2025, with AADE proceeding to compare the information declared by taxpayers with data obtained from digital short-term rental platforms.
The process is based on cooperation with platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Vrbo, which hold data relating to property listings and bookings made through their services.
Of particular importance is the fact that income earned in 2025 had already been pre-filled by AADE in the E2 forms accompanying income tax returns. This gives the tax authority an initial overview of the relevant amounts, which it can compare with platform data and the declarations submitted by taxpayers.
A key tool for identifying properties is the Property Registry Number (AMA), which must be displayed in online listings where required. This number makes it possible to match each property with the information recorded in the Short-Term Stay Property Registry.
Tax auditors can therefore examine whether properties have been correctly registered, whether the required declarations have been submitted for stays and whether the income reported in tax returns matches the available information.
In practice, this means that even when a property is properly registered, a tax issue may arise if the amounts declared do not correspond to the information obtained from bookings.
At the same time, data cross-checks allow AADE to direct its audits towards specific cases, rather than carrying out blanket checks on all property owners. This targeted approach reduces the time required to identify potential violations and improves the efficiency of the auditing mechanism.
1,545 property owners with three or more properties under scrutiny
A separate area of the audits concerns owners who offer multiple properties for short-term rental, as operating three or more properties as an individual entails different tax treatment compared with occasional or limited rental activity.
According to tax authority data, 1,545 individuals were identified who had either earned income from at least three properties during 2024 or obtained a third active Property Registry Number from 2024 onwards, without fully meeting their obligations.
Of these cases, 1,017 involved taxpayers who had not completed the required registration of business activity, while another 528 had failed to declare the appropriate Business Activity Codes (KAD).
The issue is particularly significant because the current framework provides that individuals offering three or more properties for short-term rental are treated for tax purposes as carrying out business activity, with the corresponding obligations.
This means that declaring rental income alone is not sufficient. Taxpayers must also comply with the provisions governing business activity, including the relevant VAT obligations, where applicable.
This distinction is particularly important for the market, as recent years have seen a growing presence of property owners and investors managing organised portfolios of residential properties, taking advantage of demand for tourist accommodation. In these cases, tax treatment differs from that of a private individual offering one or two properties without providing additional services beyond those permitted under the relevant framework.
The audits therefore extend beyond whether rental income has been declared to examine whether the activity falls under the correct tax regime.
Property registration number violations fall from 11% to 5%
The intensification of data cross-checks appears to have influenced property managers’ compliance with registration requirements.
According to figures presented at Prodexpo, the rate of non-compliance with the requirement to display the Property Registry Number on platforms has fallen from 11% to 5%.
This represents a reduction of six percentage points, which is particularly significant because the correct identification of properties is a fundamental requirement for the effective operation of electronic audits.
The AMA allows AADE services to match platform listings with registry records and determine whether the required obligations are being met.
However, the decline in the non-compliance rate to 5% does not mean that overall tax evasion has fallen to a similar level. This particular indicator relates exclusively to the display of the registration number, rather than all potential violations involving undeclared income, failure to submit declarations or incorrect tax treatment of rental activity.
Fines starting at €5,000 and doubling for repeat violations
The penalties imposed on property owners and managers who fail to comply with their obligations are particularly strict.
Failure to register a property in the Short-Term Stay Property Registry carries a separate annual fine equal to 50% of the gross revenue earned during the tax year in which the violation is identified, with a minimum penalty of €5,000.
If the same violation is repeated within one year of the issuance of the penalty assessment, the fine is doubled, while each subsequent identical violation results in a penalty four times the original amount.
Similarly, failure to submit or inaccurate submission of a Short-Term Stay Declaration carries a fine equal to twice the rental amount shown on the digital platform. Late submission of the declaration results in an administrative fine of €100.
The penalties are imposed on the property manager, while in cases where management by a sublessor or third party cannot be established, the relevant responsibility passes to the owner or usufructuary.
In addition to these specific fines, the discovery of undeclared income or failure to fulfil obligations arising from business activity may result in additional taxes and other penalties, depending on the nature of the violation.
What lies ahead for the short-term rental market
The emerging picture is that of a market which continues to expand its economic footprint while simultaneously entering a period of stricter tax monitoring.
AADE’s cooperation with international platforms has changed the landscape, as the tax authority no longer relies exclusively on information submitted by taxpayers themselves. Instead, it now has the ability to compare different data sources, identify discrepancies and request corrections.
The fact that previous cross-checks led to the declaration of an additional €105 million in income demonstrates that there remains considerable scope for identifying taxable income that was not initially reported.
At the same time, the increase in declared rental income to €973.7 million in 2025 shows that the short-term rental market has now reached a scale that makes it a permanent area of interest for the tax authorities.
AADE’s next challenge is to make even more systematic use of the data available to it, identifying not only those who conceal income but also those operating multiple properties without being subject to the appropriate tax regime.
For property owners and professional managers, the message is clear: as digital monitoring of transactions expands, the scope for discrepancies between bookings made through platforms and amounts declared to the tax authorities continues to narrow. And in a market now approaching €1 billion in annual declared rental income, tax compliance is becoming a decisive factor in its operation.
