Ministry starts confiscating money from debtor accounts

The Finance Ministry is starting to recoup the money owed to the tax authorities by confiscating it directly from the accounts of those with debts to the state of more than least 70,000 euros, in another effort to boost public coffers.

A decision issued on Friday by the alternate general secretary for public revenues, Ioannis Bakas, the tax authorities will be able to deduct the amount due to the state (or the part of it that is available) from debtors’ deposits within seven days of the end of the grace period after a debt has expired.

The exceptions to the measure are salary- and pension-payment accounts containing 1,000 euros or less, the single bank accounts of debtors that are protected by law up to the amount of 1,250 euros per month, and debtors who have entered one of the state’s debt servicing programs.