Covid-19 added another € 206 million to the mountain of tax debts to the state, raising the amount to € 2.67 billion in the third quarter of 2020 (July-September), compared to € 2.46 billion in the corresponding period. year of 2019.
According to the quarterly report of the Tax Department on the situation of the amounts owed, which was forwarded to the Parliament, from the debts amounting to € 2.67 billion in the third quarter of 2020, an amount of € 1.91 billion concerns direct tax debts and € 755 , 7 million VAT debts. Of the total debts, the immediately required amount for which no measures have been taken so far amounts to € 621.1 million. In fact, of the total debts, for an amount of € 1.53 billion, there are reefs to be collected. According to an analysis of the data of the Tax Department, debts amounting to € 85.1 million will never be collected, because the debtors have either died, are abroad, or the imposition of measures has failed. Of these, € 74.4 million relate to direct tax debts, while 175 taxpayers owe € 10.7 million in VAT.
The state may not collect even a penny from 18 thousand taxpayers, legal entities that owe € 180.5 million, as they have been canceled from the VAT register. According to the data, obstacles to be collected face taxes amounting to € 479.7 million and relate to Income Tax, VAT and Real Estate Tax, as taxpayers have appealed to the Minister of Finance or appealed to the Supreme Court. It is also difficult to collect debts of € 533 million, because a liquidation or bankruptcy process is underway. Specifically, in the above category, according to the data of the Tax Department, thousands of taxpayers owe direct taxes amounting to € 427.1 million and another 2,339 have VAT debts of € 105.7 million.
The competent Department faces obstacles to collect taxes amounting to € 253.2 million, as the debtors do not have assets to liquidate, do not have access to lending, or other means to satisfy their debt. Moreover, tax debts amounting to € 157.8m. are under installment settlement and are being monitored, while for amounts amounting to € 528 million, court measures have already been taken.
