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More than 5k undelivered summonses for unpaid taxes

23/01/2014 11:46
Inland Revenue Department of Cyprus faces a problem of more than 5,500 undelivered summonses and calls for law amendment in order to speed up the process of arranging uncollected debts.

The issue was discussed Wednesday in the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs where head of the Department Giorgos Poufos warned that undelivered summonses will increase sharply due to the provisions of the Memorandum signed with Troika, under which unpaid taxes are a criminal offense.

Poufos urged the parliament to find a way to speed up procedures that are stalled and stressed that the Court involvement in the whole process of summonses delivery creates more difficulties and delays.

The Acting President of the Committee Rikkos Mappourides said that the Committee discussed different ways to deliver summons if a recipient can not be found and said that the suggestions will be processed within the next 15 days.

For the summonses that remain undelivered, he said, there should be other procedures, such as publication, substitute delivery or even electronically as suggested by the Summons Servers.

In late March Cyprus averted a collapse of its banking sector after agreeing on a €10 billion bailout with the Troika (EC, ECB and IMF), that featured a haircut of banking deposits over €100,000 in its two larger lenders and the winding down of the island`s second largest lender as well as an array of public spending cuts and salary reductions. Amid worsening financial situation the issue of taxes collection appears even more important as state is in need of cash flow.