Estonian tax authority has given bankruptcy warning to 93 businesses

Photo: SCANPIX

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board has issued bankruptcy warnings to 93 businesses and filed bankruptcy petitions against six businesses this year.

The board has taken under special scrutiny this year persons who have repeatedly dumped indebted companies and firms that remain in business but systematically leave their taxes unpaid, head of the agency's revenue department Triin Raaper said.

"This year we have issued bankruptcy warnings to 93 businesses with an aggregate tax debt of 11.4 million euros. As a result approximately 430,000 euros has been paid up and in addition several persons who received the warning have started talks over paying off tax arrears in instalments," Raaper said.

According to the tax board's data persons who in their capacity of management board member had run up a tax debt of 5,000 euros or more in at least three companies numbered around 1,300 at the beginning of April.

Those individuals are associated with 1,573 businesses whose tax debt at the beginning of this month was 69.4 million euros, accounting for 20 percent of the overall tax debt.

The tax authority petitioned for the bankruptcy of six companies in the first four months of the year. The companies had declared tax liabilities over longer periods of time without making any payments.

A common feature in the day-to-day economic activity of those companies is provision of various services and rental of labor, the tax authority said. The main objective of filing for bankruptcy is to stop the growth of the tax debt.

As of the beginning of April, tax debtors numbered 43,719 and the overall tax debt was 339.3 million euros, on the same level as in spring 2009.