Debt pay-off system reduces confiscations

State debtors' keen interest in the debt settlement program in which payments can be made in up to 120 tranches has resulted in a massive drop in confiscations, official data showed on Thursday.

The tax authorities implemented just 179 confiscations in August, a development attributed to the government's decision to unfreeze the bank accounts of taxpayers who join the settlement scheme and are consistent with their payments.

The figures released by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue showed the creation of new debts amounting to 4.68 billion euros in the January-August period, considerably lower than previously. In August, new overdue debts to the tax authorities came to 754 million euros, 11.2 percent lower than the same month last year.

Since the start of the year the tax authorities have collected some 3.2 billion euros from previous debts, a figure...