New arrears to tax bureau significantly increase over course of pandemic

The number of taxpayers in Greece with arrears – from a few to millions of euros – to the tax bureau and social security funds fell under 3.5 million in July 2021, according to figures released on Monday by the Independent Authority for Public Revenues.

Conversely, new tax arrears increased in July 2021 by 237 million euros, with the figure for the first seven-month period of the year reaching 3.170 billion euros, compared to 2.933 billion at the end of June 2021.

Compared to the first seven-month period of 2020, new arrears increased by 24 percent, or 2.557 billion euros in absolute terms.

According to analysts, the surge in new arrears is directly related to the Covid-19-related “lockdown” imposed in Greece in the second quarter of 2020, when the government announced suspension in various categories of taxes owed the state.

All total, arrears to the Greek state remain at the stratospheric level of 108.99 billion euros, of which a large chunk, some 25 billion euros, is considered as absolutely unredeemable, given that it deals with businesses no longer in operation and even taxpayers no longer living.

The number of taxpayers or businesses facing possible obligatory collection actions exceed 1.83 million.