While some aspects of tax administration reform in Greece are unique, the experience offers a particularly valuable lesson that can be applied more widely, says a report by the International Monetary Fund, entitled: «How tax administration supported Greece's economic recovery».
«Sustained effort - based on good governance, careful sequencing and investment in people - can turn crisis response into permanent institutional strength,» he adds.
Greece, the IMF notes, was once the example for Europe to avoid - excluded from markets, dependent on external financial assistance and collecting very low tax revenues to finance public services and support economic growth - while today it is one of only five countries in the European Union that has a primary budget surplus.
«This development,» he adds, «is a striking turnaround that underlines how much its public finances have improved.» The turnaround largely reflects a transformed fiscal administration that is continually closing compliance gaps and has restored fiscal credibility, one of the quiet engines p behind Greece's broader economic recovery.
The IMF's latest annual assessment of the performance of the Greek economy, in the context of the Article IV consultation, found that Greece is well placed to deal with external shocks, such as those from the war in the Middle East, reflecting its enhanced fiscal sustainability and financial stability.
The primary surplus increased to almost 5% of GDP in 2024-25, while the public debt-to-GDP ratio has declined by about 65 percentage points from its high level in 2020. Financing conditions have improved alongside a return of sovereign bond spreads (spreads in yields) to levels last seen before the 2008 global financial crisis.
«The reform agenda is not complete. But the scale - and order - of Greece's recovery offers valuable lessons for other countries pursuing tax reform New IMF work in this area highlights two key findings.
First, governments cannot meet their fiscal reform objectives if taxation is not fair, reliable and transparent.
Secondly, developing these capabilities can take time. In Greece, reform has evolved in three mutually reinforcing phases - stabilization (2010-12), institution building (2013-17), and digital transformation (2018-25) - supported throughout by the development of IMF capacity,’ the Fund notes.
2018-2025: Digital transformation
Although digital tools were introduced earlier, the decisive impetus came after the institutional foundations were firmly established, the Fund notes. «At this stage, the tax administration had the governance, skills and credibility required to establish digitalisation,» the report notes, adding that after 2020, partly due to the pandemic, Greece introduced a comprehensive set of digital systems.
«These reforms made compliance easier for taxpayers and provided auditors with more accurate tools to identify risks and target enforcement where it mattered most.
The results were clear VAT compliance has improved significantly, with VAT revenues increasing by 2.4 percentage points of GDP over 15 years - from 7.1% in 2010 to around 9.5% in 2025.».
A virtuous circle
Overall, Greece's reforms have created a virtuous cycle as better governance has enabled digitisation, which in turn has improved tax compliance, and higher and more reliable revenues have boosted public confidence and fiscal credibility, the IMF finds.
In 2025, the ratio of tax revenues to GDP in Greece had reached 28% from 20.5% in 2009. While revenue growth also reflects broader economic and political changes, improvements in tax administration have played a central role, broadening the tax base, strengthening enforcement and increasing confidence in the system.
«The journey continues. The next challenge is to make recent gains sustainable by integrating new ways of working deep into daily processes. Priorities include more systematic use of analytical tools and artificial intelligence to manage compliance risks, further improving taxpayer service and trust, and ensuring that skills and staff keep up with rapid technological changes,» the Fund notes.
