500,000 taxpayers face bank account seizures

Greek taxpayers with small arrears worth 5,000 Euros and over could face the prospect of speedy seizures or having their bank accounts frozen starting from January 1 of the next year. Despite the Greek government’s announcements that it would ‘freeze’ debts, nearly 500,000 professionals and farmers will see their bank accounts empty, as their debts will be automatically transferred from their social security funds to the a special account called the Centre for the Collection of Social Security debts. This measure is included in the prior actions Greece had agreed upon in the new fiscal adjustment program with its creditors, as newspaper Eleftheros Typos reports. The first taxpayers who are at risk of being impacted by the measure are those who failed to settle current social security contributions and earlier outstanding debts that were not included in the 12-downpayment adjustment scheme. The debtors will be informed via a letter calling them to settle their debts and warning of account seizures if they fail to comply.