This is the result of the Tax Administration’s ‘shame list’

The largest tax debt on the list of individuals engaged in business activities amounts to 42 million kuna, while the largest debtor among other taxpayers, that is, citizens, owes more than 77.6 million kuna.

In the past three and a half years, since the Tax Administration began publishing the so-called list of debtors, the number of debtors has decreased by almost 19,500, of which nearly 7,500 debtors have been removed from the list because they have fully settled their debts, totaling almost 800 million kuna, according to data from the Tax Administration.

Despite divided opinions in the public, the list of debtors, or the list of overdue and unpaid debts, was first published by the Tax Administration on July 31, 2012, as one of the measures to introduce order into the tax system while Slavko Linić was the Minister of Finance.

The list pertains to overdue and unpaid debts based on value-added tax (VAT), profit and income tax, as well as surtaxes, contributions for mandatory insurance, special taxes (excise duties) on petroleum products, tobacco products, beer, coffee, and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as property transfer tax and customs duties.

The General Tax Law stipulates that the list includes individuals engaged in business activities, that is, craftsmen with debts exceeding 100,000 kuna, legal entities that owe more than 300,000 kuna, and other taxpayers, that is, citizens whose debts to the state exceed 15,000 kuna.

There were 102,370 such individuals on the first list from 2012, and the total amount of all their debts was nearly 30 billion kuna. The latest list of debtors, however, was published on the last day of January this year, and it included a total of 82,880 debtors, with a tax debt amounting to 20.85 billion kuna.

Thus, in three and a half years since the start of publishing that list, the number of tax debtors has decreased by 19,490, and the amount of debt is lower by just over 9 billion kuna. However, data from the Tax Administration shows that the debt from the list of debtors during that period has decreased by a total of about 1.2 billion kuna due to payments.

Namely, the Tax Administration responded to Hina’s inquiry that since the first publication, as of April 21 of this year, a total of 7,425 debtors have been removed from the list who have fully settled their debts published on the lists. This refers to a tax debt totaling 799.43 million kuna.

At the same time, another 11,966 taxpayers have been removed from the list because their debts, due to payments made, have fallen below the amount that is the criterion for publishing the list. These debtors have paid a total of 383.7 million kuna.

However, the General Tax Law also stipulates that this list does not include data on the debts of taxpayers for whom the tax authority has granted a deferral or installment payment of the debt or reprogramming of tax debt collection, nor if it has been determined by a final decision on a concluded pre-bankruptcy settlement that the debt is being reprogrammed.

The list of overdue and unpaid debts is published on the Tax Administration’s website and is updated four times a year – at the end of January, April, July, and October.

The latest data, from the end of January this year, shows that on the list of the largest debtors among legal entities, that is, companies, the largest debtors are Pan-papirna industrija d.o.o, with a total tax debt of 184.5 million kuna, Jadran-produkt d.o.o. in bankruptcy, which has a tax debt of 71.5 million kuna, and Helios Faros d.d., which owes the state nearly 63 million kuna in taxes.

The largest tax debt on the list of individuals engaged in business activities amounts to 42 million kuna, while the largest debtor among other taxpayers, that is, citizens, owes more than 77.6 million kuna.