Arrears by taxpayers towards the Greek state increased by 849 million euros in August 2018, the last month for which figures are available, with the first feedback showing an increasing number of households not paying the first installment of this year’s income tax – for incomes generated in 2017.
According to the independent public revenues authority, 744 million euros worth of unpaid income taxes by households was recorded during the specific month, when the first installment was due for payment by the last day of August.
New arrears accumulated over the entire first eight months of 2018 reached 6.4 billion euros, whereas the overall figure for arrears owed to the Greek state reaches the stratospheric 102.6 billion euros.
Nevertheless, a significant portion of the “Olympus-sized mountain” of arrears dates back decades and often corresponds to companies and legal entities now longer in existence as well as economically inactive or even deceased individuals.
More than 3.8 million citizens in the country now appear as owing money to the tax bureau, even though the same figure was reduced by roughly 133,000, compared to July 2018. Some 1.14 million taxpayers in the country now face obligatory payments measures, i.e. automatic seizures of money in bank accounts.
