1.5 bln euros in assets seized from tax evaders‏ in 2012

Greek authorities on Thursday said that the state has in the last year seized a total of 1.5 billion euros from individuals with large overdue tax debt to the state, both in assets and in sums taken directly from their bank accounts. Of these amounts, 1.4 billion euros were seized by tax agencies and the remaining 100 million euros by the country's financial crime agencies. A finance ministry report said that these seizures of assets and bank accounts were made possible by a new law on overdue debt to the state.

More analytically, the report said that major tax debtors – with debts exceeding 100,000 euros - were the focus of tax authority inspections last year, with confiscations for these tax evaders totaling 1.16 billion euros.

Confiscation of savings accounts: Tax authorities have asked banks to confiscate assets worth 350 million euros owned by 742 large tax debtors, of which 62 are the largest debtors. The amounts seized from these 62 largest debtors exceeded 100,000 euros, for an equivalent amount of debt, with the total sum of the confiscations totaling 320 million euros.

Confiscation of assets: Tax authorities confiscated real estate assets and other assets (vehicles, airplanes, ships, etc) worth 1.05 billion euros from 12,136 individuals with large debts to the state. Of these, 4,245 owed more than 100,000 euros to tax agencies, with confiscations for this category totaling 841.3 million euros.

“Major tax evaders will pay their share. This has already begun,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said, adding that “tax evasion must end. It is inconceivable that wage and pension earners should continue bearing the burden of fiscal adjustment, while others avoid paying their taxes. I repeat that large-scale tax evaders will pay, while authorities will show greater flexibility for those unable to service their debt obligations”.