Nearly 48 Million Euros in Uncollected Tax: Some Pay on Time, for Others the Debt Is Quietly Wiped

Some citizens pay their property tax on time. For others, the debt is quietly wiped as expired. The State Audit Office has put this injustice on paper - and the figure is uncomfortable: nearly 48 million euros uncollected.

A performance audit carried out by the State Audit Office found that between 2020 and 2024 the municipalities failed to collect nearly 48 million euros in various taxes, including property tax, fees and other charges. Over the same period, the municipalities wrote off debts of more than 3.8 million euros.

The mechanism is simple and unfair. While some pay their dues on time, for others - because of the municipalities' inefficiency - the debt expires and is wiped. „Of the total uncollected receivables from property tax, 67 percent, or 18.9 million euros, is older than five years, which points to a weak fiscal effort by the municipalities,” the auditors conclude.

Why don't the municipalities collect? The answer is both absurd and predictable. The tax departments are understaffed, the registers are not updated, and in the whole country there are only 16 tax inspectors, one of them from the Public Revenue Office. Sixteen people to collect the property tax of an entire country. No wonder things expire.

There is a second layer to the problem - the value of the properties. The methodology for calculation is outdated, applying prices that have not changed for years and do not reflect real market value. Only 15 municipalities carried out a review of market value at all. The result is an underestimated tax base and reduced revenue - money that is then not there for roads, for the water supply, for basic things.

The auditors' verdict is blunt: the measures and policies of the competent bodies and local self-government „do not ensure efficient administration of local taxes, fees and charges”. In other words, the system does not work - and that is no secret, but an official finding. The question the audit does not answer is whether anyone will actually do anything about it, or whether it too will expire like the debts it describes.