Debts to the tax office: over 110 billion euros in arrears – Only the small ones are paying

The latest snapshot from the Parliament’s Budget Office for April 2025 reveals a harsh reality:

Over €110 billion in overdue debts from households and businesses to the tax office, yet only €3.62 billion are under any kind of active repayment arrangement. That means €29 out of every €30 owed to the state has effectively been abandoned by the debtors.

According to the report, total overdue tax debt reached €110.8 billion in April 2025 — an increase of €3.8 billion compared to the previous year.

Out of this amount, €26.3 billion (23.8%) are officially categorized by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) as “uncollectible”, due to the debtors being bankrupt, missing, or deceased. Therefore, the “active” debt stands at €84.45 billion, but even then, only 4.3% of it is under repayment—less than 1 in 20 euros.

Who Owes the €110 Billion?

The debt is spread across 4,242,507 taxpayers (TINs). The “good news” is that while the total debt has increased, the number of debtors has decreased by nearly 10% year-over-year—down 403,084 individuals or businesses from 4.6 million in April 2024.

Why?

Because small debtors owing less than €50 dropped by 452,472 people—from 1,588,354 last year to 1,135,882 now. And what did the state gain from 1 in 3 of these low-debt taxpayers settling up? Just €4 million.

Their total owed dropped from €26 million to €22 million—meaning even if the government had written off all debts under €50, it would have lost only about €25 million.

So Why Did the Total Debt Rise by €3.8 Billion?