Portuguese taxpayers’ bad debts have risen 34% in the past year with over half of the amount attributable to debts of €250,000 or more.
The amount that is considered ‘uncollectable’ at the end of April was €3.92 billion, according to Fernando Rocha Andrade, the head of Tax Affairs.
Last year, the uncollectable figure in April was €2.92 billion with the €1 billion rise in twelve months taking the total to the highest level seen in the past ten years.
The unwelcome data appears in the Monthly Bulletin of Tax Credits and was published in Sunday's edition of Diário de Notícias which also shows that 58% of the total 'unrecoverable' sums owned corresponds to taxpayers with debts above €250,000, most of whom live in Lisbon and Oporto.
The report states that the Tax and Customs Authority "is more effective at collecting new debt" with the unwritten conclusion that collecting these old debts has become harder and harder.
Unrecoverable debts are those where the taxpayer has gone to ground, or in cases where the debtor has no registered assets.
Over the April-to-April period, the total debts owed to the State jumped from €18.56 billion to €18.88 billion.
Comments
http://portugalresident.com/anti-corruption-meps-get-green-light-to-investigate-portugal%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cmissing-billions%E2%80%9D
a. the taxes lost by companies being in offshore (cfr EDP in Amsterdam +
b. the companies that are (officially) exempt from IRS (the biggest companies in the country) +
c. the "famous list of 1000 untouchables" +....
and one can easily DOUBLE or TRIPLE the amount the Portugese finanças cannot collect.
A couple of years ago Finanças sent out their troops in order to recuperate outstanding IRS. The result was "good" aS half of the people paid their debts immediately, 10% asked for a settlement and only 25% had to be considered as "lost". Why does Finanças not institutionalise that formula ? Maybe because it asks for too much effort from the troopers ????
A couple of years ago it had been said that the IRS total burden is something equal to 8 or 9 years of the total amount due....
People have the right to put questions (as MP's in Portugal are forbidden to do!) is this "normal behaviour" ? "good governance" or "big bullshit" as all the rest in Portugal.. Is there really NOBODY capable to run the state in a decent and correct way ?
Is it NOT willing ? or NOT wanted? or TOTAL INCOMPETANCE ? anyway it is a big shame !!!!!!!
Ed has published the truth, one of the few media services that does, but you are boring us all by not reading what is written and banging on about it as if you are delighted to have 'caught someone out' - you have not and AdNews is the only place that has the balls to say what's what in the corrupt world of Portuguese business and politics. I am impressed with
Ed's tolerance....
If you read what I replied to Malcolm:
"It didn't. The €10 billion in question was money transferred by individuals and companies, unsupervised and unreported, between 2011 and 2015, over 50% from BES customers," you might have spotted that I corrected him, gently and politely.
'Fake news' implies intent to deceive and I am sure that Malcom was merely misinformed and had no intention of deceiving anyone.
Ed
Quoting Cara:
It didn't.
The €10 billion in question was money transferred by individuals and companies, unsupervised and unreported, between 2011 and 2015, over 50% from BES customers.
There is no record of tax owed on the missing €10 billion which was money transferred out of Portugal to tax havens and not reported to the Bank of Portugal, as should have been the case. As Andrade is not bothered to find out who sent how much and why, the chance of applying tax to these transfers is slimmer by the day: see http://algarvedailynews.com/news/11793-the-panama-papers-the-10-billion-in-unreported-transfers-don-t-expect-too-much-says-secretary-of-state-for-tax
Or are these figures just relevant for the lower classes - the Oiks?