Debt to tax authorities of 30 people - mostly businessmen and private companies, amounted to € 6.25 billion, or 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. After the strict measures that were taken in May it value goes down to about € 1 billion.
The biggest debtor in the country is a businessman, an accountant from the city of Thessaloniki, who is involved in a scandal of illegal VAT returns and owes € 636.3 million. The next are the problem raising state organizations such as the former state airline Olimpiaki and the State Railways Organization, the famous Acropolis brokerage company that is involved in the scandal with the bonds, a municipal company in the Ano Liosia district owing € 262.3 million, an insurance company and strange but true - several companies for photographic materials, reveals Imerisiya Journal.
The fact that these 30 companies and businessmen are just the tip of the iceberg is most disturbing. The long blacklist of the Ministry of Finance includes 3 900 individuals and companies that owe more than € 1 million. According to initial data the sum of their debts to the state is around € 15 billion. This is half of the expired debts to tax authorities, which amount to € 32 billion.
Banks, insurance companies, sports clubs and companies from all areas such as foodstuffs, clothing, construction companies, tourist companies, advertising companies and others are included in the list of the Ministry after the number of 30.
Services at the Ministry have already started the campaign to collect taxes. This is a very difficult task, since these cases were gathering dust in drawers for many years. A recent example is the businessman from Thessaloniki who owes € 636.3 million and is in prison now. This is making it impossible to require him pay the enormous amounts owed. Other cases of debts of hundreds of millions have been dragged for 20 years as the indebted firms are already closed, and the public companies’ treasuries are empty.
Therefore, the initial estimates show that one third of the money or about € 8 and € 10 billion from the total amount of debt, which is about € 32 billion, will be collected, reports the Imerisiya Journal. Accordingly, about € 2 billion will be collected from the first in the list of 30 debtors who owe € 6.26 billion. The Ministry has already formed a working group which has to make the proceedings and push debtors to pay their debts by seizing their property and blocking their deposits. Some 700 properties in Mykonos and Santorini are already prepared for seizure.
“There will be more property seizures as these are very challenging cases,” said the Ministry of Finance. The new law regulations stipulate express auction procedures for thеse properties. In every case of property seizure the tax officer should submit an auction program for the next 40 days and specify the date of the auction within five months after seizure. There will be no auctions if it is the only home of the debtor. Imerisiya noted that € 500 million were collected during the first five months from debtors who had not paid their taxes. It is believed that the goal of € 1.5 billion to end of the year could be achieved, even if difficult.
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