Greece’s stock of overdue tax debts continued its upward trajectory in October, rising to €112.50 billion from €111.92 billion in September—an increase of €582 million in just one month. Of this amount, €85.18 billion is considered genuinely collectible, once debts officially marked as uncollectible are excluded. Individual taxpayers owed €43.13 billion, a slight increase from the previous month, while businesses and other legal entities accumulated €69.37 billion in overdue obligations. Debt categorized as uncollectible also grew marginally, reaching €27.32 billion.
At the same time, the authorities recorded higher revenue from the recovery of long-standing overdue debts. Collections from this “old” debt portfolio rose to €2.79 billion in October, compared with €2.58 billion in September. Write-offs within the same category amounted to €492 million. As a result, the remaining stock of old debt edged down to €107.06 billion after accounting for these adjustments.
Newly accrued overdue tax debt also increased, reaching €7.80 billion at the end of the month, up from €6.97 billion in September. Collections on these newer debts totaled €2.69 billion. The effective collection rate—calculated after subtracting uncollectible amounts and write-offs—improved to 37.4 percent, up from 35.7 percent a month earlier. Similar improvements were recorded across categories that exclude non-tax debts, with collection rates rising to around 40 percent.
The number of taxpayers facing the possibility of enforced collection measures also rose in October. In total, more than 3.89 million people had overdue debts to the state. Of these, roughly 2.32 million were in a position where the authorities could initiate compulsory measures such as asset seizures or bank account freezes. By the end of the month, about 1.64 million taxpayers were already subject to such enforcement actions, representing just over 70 percent of those eligible.
