Seizure of bank account for debts to the State

A citizen owed 6,754 euros to the Tax Office and because of his inability to pay, tax officers seized his bank account and withdrew 20.20 euros.

This was confirmed today, Friday, by the ministry of Finance in a letter that was sent to parliament, when this case of the particular debtor became the subject of a parliamentary inspection.

LAOS MP Constantinos Aivaliotis had raised a question about this case, asking to be informed if a Tax Office had indeed imposed a seizure on a bank account at EFG Eurobank for debts of a citizen to the State.

As deputy minister of Finance Pantelis Economou informs in his letter, the Tax Office did indeed impose a forced seizure of bank accounts of the specific debtor for 6754.32 euros of outstanding debts.

After an affirmative statement by the bank, indicating the existence of the bank account of the debtor with a remaining amount of 20.20 euros, this was seized and attributed to the Tax Office.

Economou says that article 24 of Law 2951/2001 has been created to lift the secrecy of any form of deposits with credit institutions, to meet each lender with a right of seizure of the debtor's property for the amount required to cover the debt.

He also says that the term "lender" includes the State as well, which under the provisions of the Tax Code for State Revenue for its outstanding claims, may impose the compulsory seizure on a third party.

He also states that the tax code provides for a forced divestiture of the seized monetary claim to the State by notification to the third party and there is no provision for the lifting of the seizure before payment of the imposed debt.