It seems that evasion of tax by restaurant owners/operators is widespread, as bills in my possession show.

Two state that “this is not a fiscal receipt” and the third does not say anything and, therefore, one is easily misled to believe that this is the actual receipt.

Also, none of the bills bear what is required by law: name of the restaurant and VAT number. Two are also undated and one bears a date.

All three bills were paid by credit card. While for two of them I asked and got the receipt, when I enquired about the receipt for the third, the lady was quick to state that she had given me the receipt.

I replied that it was the receipt for my credit card and that I now require a fiscal receipt, which was eventually issued.

I noticed that the fiscal receipt was issued from a different machine as the print was different and the size of the paper smaller. This indicates to me that some restaurants operate with two machines.

It would be interesting to note how many inspections are carried out by the VAT Department and how many charges were issued.

In all instances, the restaurants were packed with diners. I wonder how many fiscal receipts were issued.