When will the taxman finally let go?

The activation of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue’s Eispraxis (“Collection”) system in September will allow the tax authority to have a clearer picture of all the properties held by those with debts to the state.

If, after a detailed probe, it is proven that a debtor does not possess property, or not much, the tax authority will stop chasing after them to collect and they will be entered into the special ledger of unrecoverable debts. If certain conditions are met, these debts will be canceled after a decade. Until then, however, the debtors will be hampered in many of their transactions, including those concerning property, and their accounts will be seized.

About 4.7 million taxpayers owe a total of €112.5 billion, of which only about €5.3 billion is on agreed repayment schedules. State authorities’ estimate that 77.5% of the rest, or about €87 billion, is potentially recoverable is seen as wildly optimistic.