From suspending unaudited use, governments moved very quickly to settling arrears. And while institutions have been most strongly opposed to any form of debt regulation since the memos, governments have succeeded in passing them, drawing backlash and criticism from creditors who usually asked for countermeasures. to achieve fiscal goals. This development has led to new taxes and spending cuts, mainly through cuts in wages, pensions, tax breaks and benefits. Of course, governments argued in defense of their positions and against creditors’ arguments that additional revenues would come from reducing tax evasion.

However, over the years of the memorandums, tax evasion, a wave or a “don’t pay” movement has increased, as a result of which the arrears to the state from 34 billion euros in 2010 exceed today 113 billion euros.

The policy of tax cuts for the poor, mostly for the sake of votes, worked for the benefit of tax evaders. The largest percentage of Greek taxpayers declare income up to 10,000 euros, while statistics have shown and still show that the total declared income is 2/3 of personal consumption.

Even though the pandemic crisis has shown that we can do it differently, namely using cards and e-banking in our transactions, today there are still financial staff members who are responding to the mandatory expansion of POS to all professions and to the reduction of cash transactions up to 500 euros.

From 34 billion euros in 2010, arrears to the state now exceed 113 billion euros.

It is significant that today many citizens buy real estate for cash. That is, the total cost of the property, which could be worth €250,000, is paid entirely in cash. The same thing happens in some cases with buying a car. Amount cash and cash.

At the same time, as tax evasion among the self-employed and freelancers rages (albeit tamed by focus), the government has pulled another debt settlement out of its quiver. Agreement on debts arising from the energy crisis from November 2021 to February 2023. A necessary condition for inclusion in the agreement is the constancy of the debtor in installments. And if in the meantime he created new debts, then they should be included in the new order of 36-72 contributions. At the same time, however, those who lost any of the old 72 or 120 installment agreements, regardless of when they were lost, are also given the opportunity to rejoin with the sole obligation to pay two installments at once. In fact, a delay of more than five months is given for their reintegration into regulation (end of July).

Message…

All of these steps send a clear signal to those who have no debt to the tax office and pay their obligations normally. The bottom line is that even if you leave your taxes unpaid, at some point you will be justified!

Of course, there are cases when taxpayers are really unable to fulfill their obligations. The new regulation or the possibility of reintegration should be addressed to them, and not in general and indiscriminately to all debtors.

Endless redemption payments

For reference, the first agreements were made during the memorandums during the service of G. Sturnaras and Secretary General of State Revenues H. Theoharis, but on strict conditions. Especially:

• A new permanent debt calculation is created in 2013. The new arrangement was made on terms agreed with the creditors. In particular, for debts up to 5,000 euros, the number of payments was determined on the basis of an application with a lower submission limit of 50 euros per month. But from 5,000 euros to 50,000 euros, debtors will have to provide detailed information about their income and real estate. In fact, for debts between EUR 50,000 and EUR 150,000, they were required to provide a certificate from an independent authority, while for higher debts, guarantees or real collateral from a third-party appraiser were required.

• In 2015, Deputy Finance Minister N. Valavani initiated the largest 100-payment settlement to date involving over 770,000 debtors, settling over €5.5 billion.

• A few years later, namely in May 2019, Deputy Minister K. Papanatiu issued a new regulation, this time in the amount of 120 payments.

Regulation has improved (enterprises have also joined in) with the adoption of ND management. Minister of Finance C. In the same year, Staikouras submitted to Parliament an improved debt settlement in the form of 120 payments, which were joined by more than 660,000 debtors, and the repayment amount reached 6.5 billion euros. The distribution of 120 payments concerned employees, pensioners, the self-employed who closed their neighborhoods, the unemployed, farmers with special status and enterprises with debts (principal debt up to 1 million euros). Appropriate provisions have also been established for foundations over the years.

• In September 2021, taxpayers affected by the pandemic and excluded from these agreements from 03/01/2020 to 07/31/2021 were able to rejoin the 100 and 120 installment agreements.

• In 2022, a new regulation was introduced for pandemic debts in installments from 36 to 72. The amount paid under this special arrangement is currently 1 billion euros.

• On February 15, the reintegration into the regulation of 72-120 doses was announced for those who have lost them since their introduction. Potentially 200,000 debtors could be reunited.

• Also on February 15, a new provision was announced for contributions from 36 to 72 for energy crisis debt. Permanent debtors who created new debt between November 2021 and February 1, 2023 can join the agreement.

Marking

A former government official who worked at the Treasury Department says all of these arrangements have something in common. The audience is a debtor who moves from one arrangement to another. In fact, agreements are accepted for the same debtors.

It would be extremely interesting if the tax administration had qualitative data on the debtors of the state (in the age of artificial intelligence and automatic transitions, it seems strange that they do not exist).

That is, for example, how many are self-employed, from which industries, their declared income, the benefits they receive, and any government subsidies they may have received.

The first facilities were launched in 1978.

For years, governments have had in their quiver to increase revenue sharing. Closing the ledgers without checking and paying the amount to the government. The interruption was first discovered in Greece in 1978 by Finance Minister Thanasis Kanellopoulos. Since then, there have been 10 more suspensions, the last of which occurred during the ministry of G. Varoufakis. At the end of 2016, taxpayers were asked to voluntarily disclose undeclared income and pay tax, in fact legalize it!

1. The history of unaudited usage begins in 1978 when the then Minister of Finance extended the rule until 1981. The “Kathimerini” of June 22, 1978 states that: To the taxpayers to pay off the debt… The tax, levy or levy that arises after these settlements will be paid by the debtors in 10 equal monthly installments, the first of which is due in the month following the certification . Those who pay the entire amount within the first installment payment period will receive a 10% discount.”

2. The following decree appeared in 1988 during the ministry of Dimitris Tsovol. The then finance minister gave businesses and freelancers the opportunity to suspend unaudited usage, raising significant revenue for the Greek state.

3. With the coming to power of the New Democracy, Minister of Finance I. Paleokrassas gave the opportunity to all enterprises, regardless of gross income, to close their books.

4. The most successful settlement took place in 1994, when the state collected a sum of 450 billion dr. however, these cases were finally terminated.

5. During the ministry of Nikos Christodoulakis there were two resignations. Although they were called “relevance”, they had exactly the same meaning – the closure of uncontrolled use. The Deputy Minister of Finance, Apostolos Fotiadis, issued a decree in 2002 providing for the closing of the financial year for the period 1999-2001.

6. The second adjustment, made at the end of 2002, was to close the financial years of the period 1993-1998.

7. In 2004, under the Ministry of G. Alogoskufis, the seventh revision was carried out, which could be joined by companies with a gross revenue of up to 8.8 million euros. The agreement concerned unaudited cases for the period 1998-2003.

8. Four years later, Mr. Alogoskufis establishes a new regulation on unaudited cases for the period 2000-2006.

9. Although Minister I. Papathanasiou did not draw up a new regulation, he nonetheless reinstated the regulation of his predecessor and asked the companies that were not subject to it until June 2009.

10. At the end of 2010 (Minister of Finance G. Papakonstantinou) the unaudited financial years 2000-2009 were closed.

11. A new type of termination has been established. Those who hid taxable material or had undeclared income abroad were encouraged to declare it in order to keep it. However, shortly before the expiry date for the enforcement of this order, the control mechanism sent notices to those who were issued a control order to declare the taxable material they found, paying the appropriate price, without fines and criminal liability.