The conversations sparked at the 14th Thessaloniki Tax Forum extend well beyond the conference hall. Across both the public and private sectors, tax and financial management are being reshaped by a powerful combination of increased transparency, technological capability, regulatory change, and rising expectations for certainty and accountability. For governments, this means moving toward more reliable and sophisticated financial reporting and creating frameworks that strengthen trust and predictability. For businesses, it means navigating an environment in which tax authorities have unprecedented access to data, transactions are increasingly complex, and tax considerations are becoming inseparable from broader strategic decisions.
The articles that follow explore different dimensions of this changing landscape: from the modernization of public financial management through IPSAS and Greece’s new binding tax rulings framework to the orchestration of AI, data, and human judgment in tax advisory and the tax considerations that ultimately determine whether an M&A transaction delivers its full value.
Though perspectives differ, a common conclusion emerges: Tax is no longer simply a matter of compliance. It is increasingly a matter of certainty, strategy, transparency, and trust.
Modernizing Public Financial Management through IPSAS
By Dimitris Panozachos, Chief Executive Officer, Orthologismos
The globalization of the economy, the intensification of competition among nations, the growth of public debt, and the expanding social responsibilities of governments are driving both national administrations and international organizations to reassess the frameworks used to monitor public finances.
Reliable financial reporting is a fundamental prerequisite for strengthening the confidence of citizens, investors and international markets in the state and its institutions
It is now widely recognized that traditional cash-based, single-entry accounting systems can no longer meet today’s requirements for transparency, accountability and effective fiscal management. The implementation of double-entry accounting systems (DEAS), together with the adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), has become a prerequisite for the modernization of public financial management.
In Greece, the first substantial steps were taken in the late 1990s through the introduction of sector-specific accounting frameworks for public sector entities. The fiscal crisis and the need to determine the country’s actual level of public debt further demonstrated the importance of properly implementing double-entry accounting, as only those public entities that had systematically adopted the system showed no material discrepancies between their actual liabilities and those officially recorded.
The preparation of comprehensive financial statements from 2011 onwards, followed by the gradual adoption of accrual accounting in accordance with IPSAS from 2019, has significantly improved the quality, reliability and completeness of information relating to public revenues, liabilities and public assets.
This reform cannot be completed simply through the enactment of new legislation. It requires continuous improvement, as it brings to light management issues that remained undetected under the former cash-based accounting systems. For this reason, the continuous training of public sector executives, combined with the effective use of the specialized expertise of external advisers, is a key prerequisite for its successful implementation.
The preparation of reliable financial statements, together with their assessment through statistical data and economic indicators, provides an objective picture of a country’s actual financial position and the effectiveness of its public financial management.
Reliable financial reporting is no longer merely an accounting requirement. It is a fundamental prerequisite for transparency, accountability, sound fiscal policymaking and strengthening the confidence of citizens, investors and international markets in the state and its institutions.
The Orchestration Advantage
By Fotis Tsamparlis, Partner, Transfer Pricing Leader, Deloitte Greece and Sofia Tzaneti, Senior Manager, Transfer Pricing, Deloitte Greece
Tax authorities have never had greater visibility into business activity. Through real-time reporting, e-invoicing, cross-border information exchange, and AI-powered analytics, they can identify anomalies and prioritize audits faster than most organizations can explain their own numbers. The challenge is no longer limited to compliance, but extends to connecting tax, financial, and operational data into a coherent decisionmaking framework.
In a world where AI is accessible to all, the value of the trusted tax advisor comes from the ability to orchestrate technology, data, and judgment
At the same time, AI is democratizing access to powerful models, making sophisticated technology available to virtually every organization. As that access becomes the norm, competitive advantage shifts to those who can orchestrate them. AI can flag a drop in margin; it cannot tell you whether that reflects a genuine restructuring, a one-off disruption, or a position that won’t withstand scrutiny. That judgment requires real knowledge of the business—and that is where the trusted advisor creates value.
The most challenging tax discussions rarely revolve around numbers alone. They are about the story those numbers don’t tell on their own. Like a conductor bringing together different instruments into one coherent piece, the advisor brings together data, technology, and judgment into a single narrative, technically sound and able to withstand scrutiny.
In an era of unprecedented transparency, organizations must explain not only what happened, but why, almost as quickly as anomalies are identified. Technology will keep evolving, and access to it will keep expanding. Competing with it is a losing game. The real advantage lies in orchestrating it.
Greek Binding Tax Rulings: Enhancing tax certainty and robustifying tax attractiveness
By Jenny Panou, Attorney-at-Law, Partner – Head of Tax, Grant Thornton and Maria Koilatou, Attorney-at-Law, Senior Tax Manager, Grant Thornton
With effect from October 1, 2026, Greece has enacted for the first time a framework for advance binding tax rulings (BTRs), aligning its regulatory practices with international tax compliance standards. Taxpayers are granted the right to request the issuance of a binding interpretation from the Tax Administration regarding tax and customs matters, prior to any envisaged transaction.
In a nutshell, the interpretative scope of BTRs is broad, excluding any advance pricing agreements, foreign law, or pending litigation-related matters. The application must precisely outline the facts and address the existing legislative ambiguity. The minimum submission fee is €3,500. The Tax Administration either issues the requested BTR or notifies of its rejection within a 150-day timeframe. The BTR is valid as long as the factual and legal background remains unchanged, no conflicting jurisprudence is subsequently issued by a supreme court, and the taxpayer complies with the conditions thereof. Any tax return in compliance with the BTR is not considered inaccurate. The taxpayer is burdened with an administrative fee, ranging from €10,000 to €50,000, depending on the matter’s complexity and other factors. To ensure transparency, all BTRs, anonymized or pseudonymized, will be made publicly available.
Overall, the introduction of BTRs marks a pivotal shift in the Greek fiscal landscape, shaping a formal pathway to tax certainty while significantly boosting potential investors’ confidence. However, this significant tool’s success relies on its implementation’s effective design and its inherent capacity to face any policymaking challenges without jeopardizing its constitutional compatibility, its efficiency, and its administrative cost.
Post-M&A Tax Considerations: Key Insights for Corporate Leaders
By Effie Adamidou, Head of Tax and Legal, KPMG
The most successful post-M&A integrations proactively safeguard the business against identified tax risks while capitalizing on immediate post-deal opportunities. There are five key tax priorities.
Managing tax due diligence findings: A key post-closing priority is to evaluate the tax due diligence findings, establish a framework for monitoring the exposures identified, and implement remediation actions where appropriate.
Reassessing the value chain: Post-deal integration provides an opportunity to revisit the group’s operating model and value chain, creating potential efficiencies across the supply chain and facilitating the redesign of regional principal structures, shared service centers, and procurement hubs, while harmonizing transfer pricing arrangements.
Optimizing IP structures: Valuable intangible assets often represent a key driver of M&A transactions, and acquiring groups must assess how best to integrate the target’s intellectual property into the group’s operating model, streamline ownership of key intangibles, optimize licensing and royalty structures, and achieve operational and tax efficiencies.
Reevaluating intercompany financing arrangements: The group’s financing arrangements should be optimized, ensuring arm’s length interest rates and debt capacity, complying with thin capitalization and interest limitation rules, and minimizing potential withholding tax leakage.
Identifying tax synergies and effective tax rate opportunities: The post-acquisition phase provides an opportunity to evaluate initiatives that can enhance cash flow and improve the effective tax rate within the evolving BEPS Pillar Two framework. Key areas of focus include cash tax optimization, financing structure and intellectual property optimization, cross-border withholding tax efficiencies, and the strategic use of advance rulings, advance pricing agreements (APAs), and mutual agreement procedures (MAPs).
Capturing post-M&A tax efficiencies is critical to maximizing deal value
Capturing post-M&A tax efficiencies is critical to maximizing deal value.
Trade Readiness: The Next Competitive Advantage
By Hara Strati, Director, Indirect Tax & Customs, PwC
2026–2027 is proving to be a genuine tipping point for cross-border trade, and businesses cannot afford to wait. Three forces are converging on traded goods at once: regulation, as CBAM carbon-border costs become payable and EUDR deforestation-related due diligence moves from paper to practice; geopolitics and trade intervention, as wars, sanctions, tariff volatility, and the EU’s new steel import regime reshape landed costs, sourcing decisions, and supply chain traceability; and opportunity, as new free trade agreements redraw preferential origin advantages for businesses prepared to act early and decisively.
The cost of unpreparedness rarely appears as a single line item—it hides in misclassified customs codes, unused duty reliefs, and unclaimed VAT refunds
For businesses engaged in cross-border trade, these pressures quickly translate into a cost of unpreparedness that is not always immediately visible. It rarely appears as a single line item; it hides in misclassified customs codes, unused duty reliefs, and unclaimed VAT refunds. Left unchecked, these gaps accumulate over time, steadily eroding margins and liquidity.
The reassuring part is that many of these gaps do not require new legislation. VAT exemptions and suspension schemes, customs duty reliefs, preferential origin under FTAs, and funding instruments already exist within current law; the task is identifying which apply and activating them in time.
Businesses that treat customs, tax, supply chain, and funding as separate conversations will keep missing this value. Those running a structured, cross-disciplinary diagnostic across all four—not waiting for a compliance deadline to force the question—are converting trade complexity into a genuine competitive advantage.
Right now, trade readiness is no longer a defensive exercise. It is fast becoming the defining factor between businesses that merely absorb disruption and those that turn it into opportunity.
Crypto Taxation in Greece: A New Era of Regulation and Transparency
By Georgia Stamatelou, Partner, Tax Services, EY in Greece
For years, cryptocurrencies in Greece had operated in a legal gray area, creating uncertainty for investors, tax authorities, and market participants. Recent developments, however, signal a decisive move toward a more structured and transparent framework.
The main catalyst for change has been the European Union’s regulatory agenda for digital assets. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), introduced in 2023, sets harmonized rules for crypto-asset service providers, with a strong focus on investor protection, transparency, and market integrity. The regulation is transforming the crypto sector from an unregulated market into a supervised financial ecosystem.
MiCA is complemented by the EU’s eighth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC8)—Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226—which extends the automatic exchange of tax information to crypto-assets. Under DAC8, crypto-asset service providers must report transaction data to tax authorities, with the first reporting deadline falling on September 30, 2027. This will significantly enhance member states’ ability to detect undeclared crypto income and gains.
The direction is clear: greater certainty for taxpayers and enhanced oversight for the authorities
In Greece, policymakers are considering a 15% capital gains tax on profits derived from cryptocurrency disposals, while strengthening reporting and compliance obligations for investors. Although the legislative process remains ongoing, the direction is clear: greater certainty for taxpayers and enhanced oversight for the authorities.
Looking ahead, Greek investors should expect increased scrutiny, more comprehensive reporting requirements, and closer cooperation between tax authorities across the EU. As digital assets become mainstream, Greece’s approach reflects a broader European objective: fostering innovation while ensuring tax transparency and investor protection in the evolving crypto economy.
