Greek Tax Authority: No Such Thing as Free Gifts for Influencers

For a lot of influencers around the world, the free stuff has always been part of the appeal. A comped hotel here, the latest phone there, a box of cosmetics that arrives without an invoice. However Greek tax authorities have now decided that none of it is quite as free as it looked.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), which is responsible for collecting the country’s taxes, has set up dedicated audit teams to look for income that never made it onto a tax return. They are looking for advertising deals that went uninvoiced and the products and services creators accept for a plug without declaring them.

The teams read the posts. They track hashtags, brand tags and the comments beneath an upload for evidence of a commercial arrangement the state never heard about. Photographs, videos, discount codes, repeat collaborations and the frequency with which a product appears can, in the authority’s assessment, mark someone as running a business.