Government owed €8.1bln in tax arrears in 2024, expects to recover €1.4bn
Figures for 2025 to be finalised in April
The government at the end of 2024 was owed €6,149,477,754 in VAT arrears and €2,003,259,579 in tax, figures given in parliament show.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said €705,941,962 in overdue VAT was expected to be recovered, but €5,443,535,792 was not.
Similarly, the authorities expect to collect €735,591,035 of the overdue tax, but €1,267,668,544 is not expected to be recovered.
Figures on overdue taxes in 2025 are being checked and will be completed next month.
The minister was replying to a question by Nationalist MP Ivan Bartolo.
In October 2024 the minister had reported that the government was owed over €1 billion in income tax in the previous year but almost €900 million of it was considered "uncollectable".
He explained that the taxes considered uncollectable were mainly tax estimates that were generated after people and businesses failed to submit their income tax returns.
The government at the time was also owed €4.8 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT).