LISBON: Portugal is going to collect more than €1.4 billion through a special scheme to recover unpaid debts to the tax office and social security, €551 million of which it has already been paid this year.
The ministries of finance and social security said in separate statement that some 93,000 tax payers with amounts due to the two entities had signed up to pay off their debts, with a pardon of the interest and fines, between 4 November and 23 December. The programme which allows the debts to be paid in instalments, will let the government get in a total of €1,434,000,000 over the lifespan of the scheme, which is 11 years (in cases where the tax payers opt for the maximum number of instalments, which is 150 monthly payments). Out of the total, €1.14 billion is for tax debts and €290 million for social security.
