Τhe deadline for freelancers and the self-employed to connect their business account to the direct payment system expires οn Monday, September 2.
Through the IRIS system, they are allowed to accept direct payments from their customers and benefit from the significant advantages offered by the service, such as significantly reduced or no commission costs as well as speed in the processing of transactions.
The Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) sent a message to freelancers and the self-employed in view of the expiration of the relevant deadline in order to remind them of the obligation to complete the procedure.
To date, there are 400,000 freelancers and self-employed people registered with the service, of which 240,000 have activated the instant payment system the current year. In fact, the rate of registration to the service is lately five times higher than in the previous period.
A total of 12 banks now provide the service: Alpha Bank, National Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, Cooperative Bank of Epirus, Viva.com, Optima Bank, Attica Bank, Pancreta Bank, Cooperative Bank of Thessaly, Cooperative Bank of Karditsa and Cooperative Bank of Chania.
Significant benefits for everyone
Signing up to this service creates a number of benefits for all involved, namely:
For the professional: Easy collection of payments without the need for the customer’s presence and without additional equipment (POS), immediate availability of receipts in the professional account 24 hours a day and immediate notification by SMS or push.
Professionals receive the money instantly (in 2 seconds), even if the bank they work with is different from the client’s bank. Transactions are carried out through the secure environment of the banks’ mobile banking and with the use of biometric data.
The cost of using the service is extremely low or none at all and ranges from 0% to 0.50% of the transaction amount. Therefore, it is significantly lower if the same transaction was carried out through the use of POS.
For citizens: Creating an alternative payment method. Absolutely free for each of their transactions (whether between citizens or for payments to professionals), easy, fast and secure payment, without IBAN, without card and without cash, just by using the mobile phone.
For the state: Transparency and information on the payments of debtors, reduction of tax evasion and increase of tax revenues.
For banks: Cost reduction by limiting the use of cash and offering new digital solutions to their customers.
