Big Brother for debtors to the state

The updated bailout agreement between the government and the country’s creditors is forcing Athens to hire a private company that will undertake the assessment of expired debts both to the state and to the social security funds.

The private corporation will secure access to debtors’ assets as well as their bank deposits to evaluate the quality of their debt, and therefore whether they can be collected or not.

According to the agreement, the tax authorities will have to initiate the procedure for major debtors by analyzing their financial data so as to establish their debts’ sustainability.

The company to undertake this project will be bound by confidentiality regulations and it will have to submit a draft on the debt-paying capacity of debtors and ways of collecting expired debts by this coming September.

Within this month, the General Secretariat for Public Revenues will also have to publish a list of those with major debts to the state, these being taxpayers whose debts to the state and the social security funds exceed 150,000 euros.