



Greece’s finance ministry has decided on a policy to publicize the names of people who owe over 300,000 euros to the tax office or to pension and security funds.

According to Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis, the names will be uploaded on the internet. This is part of a Greek government effort to battle tax evasion.

The provision to disclose the names of large debtors to the state will be included in a bill for smuggling tobacco products, another piece of legislation to tackle tax evasion. The bill will be tabled soon in Greek parliament.

According to an Imerisia newspaper report, 4,422 businesses owe over 300,000 euros to IKA, Greece’s Social Security Fund.

Reportedly, the state has already compiled the list of big debtors to IKA and is waiting until the end of the month to start publishing the names and the debt amounts on the internet.

The list includes:

800 hotels, restaurants, bars, catering services and one canteen.

707 retail and wholesale companies

4 companies that are “inactive” or have “moved’ abroad leaving huge debts behind

297 service companies (cleaning, protection/security, advertising, management, and even tax consulting offices)

233 construction companies

207 companies from the food and beverage industry

120 publishing and media companies

75 private postal and telecommunications companies

103 educational companies

99 service enterprises, including barbers , beauty treatment and two funeral offices.

The 4,422 companies on the IKA debtors list, are just a 5.36% of the total number of debtors (82,490) whose debts have been “transferred” to the Collection Center of Insurance Contributions. Their debts reach 4.767 billion euros. The 4,422 businesses owe 56.67% of the total debt to IKA, which is 8.412 billion euros.



