Overall tax revenues have risen considerably over the last few years, although tax arrears continue to be high, MPs heard on Thursday.

The House audit committee was discussing the auditor-general’s report on the tax department for the year 2023.

During the course of the discussion, MPs heard that this year the state anticipates tax revenue to exceed €8 billion – a jump from €7.4 billion last year and from €5 billion in 2023.

At the same time the tax department has, up until the end of August this year, made tax refunds worth around €500 million.

Of this €500 million, €440 million concern VAT refunds, said Tax Commissioner Sotiris Markides.

The commissioner said that currently tax refunds are done approximately within two weeks of a refund application. This is much faster than in the past, when it used to take months.

An official with the auditor-general’s office pointed out that the state continues to face problems with tax arrears – which clocked in at a whopping €3.1 billion at the end of 2023.

And of this amount, said the same official, about €1.4 billion risk never being recovered.

Answering MPs’ questions, Markides stated that tax returns for this year might be filed via the Tax For All system – an online system for managing and filing tax returns for individuals and corporations.

More likely, however, the software system would go fully operational by the end of 2026.

The Tax For All System is currently at 70 per cent of implementation, Markides said.

It was deployed in partnership with DataTorque, a New Zealand company. The software system cost €30 million.

Efforts will be made to link up the system to other state services, such as the land registry.

Regarding criticism of deficient tax checks, Markides said the tax register currently consists of some 100,000 corporations and 320,000 individuals.

On the football clubs owing taxes to the state, the commissioner said that following the most recent arrangement the government is collecting around half a million euro a month from these companies.

He was also asked about the tax case involving Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Markides said his department is drafting legislation to regulate the matter. The department is facing “many reactions” to this effort, he added, without elaborating.

Elsewhere, the official spoke to the multitude of complaints filed concerning tax evasion or avoidance.

The law allows people to blow the whistle on suspected tax evaders.

Markides described many of the complaints filed as “quite inventive”.

He said people have various motives to report other taxpayers to the authorities. Some take advantage of insider information, while others hold a grudge against former employers or business partners.

“The best complainants are those who split up, partners who broke off, or employees who fell out with their employer. Reports are often made for the purpose of revenge.”