Spectacular changes in the chart of the largest tax debtors

The ranking of major arrears towards the state (accumulated by major companies) has seen spectacular changes, according to the latest reports by the Ministry of Public Finance, published at the end of September 2009.

The first five companies, of which three are private, have accumulated over 2.5 billion lei in arrears to the state budget, accounting for 67% of the total volume.

Major corporate taxpayer have accumulated over 3.720 billion lei, at the end of September 2009. The majority of accumulated debt comes from unpaid VAT amounts.

A surprise for this chart is the reappearance of the former National Tobacco Company (SNTR), which has over half a billion lei in debt, of which half are interests and penalties. Unlike the other major debtors, most of the arrears of the former SNTR come from unpaid excises - 174 million lei.

Third spot in the chart belongs to a virtually unknown company - Sasquatch Impex SRL (which relocated last year from Bistriţa to Bucharest) with over 300 million in debt.

Another company which was privatized a few years ago, UCM Reşiţa has over 117 million lei in debt. The presence of SNTR and UCM Reşiţa in this ranking is all the more surprising as in 2004, their debts were erased after their privatization.

The Ministry of Finance claims that it has begun foreclosure proceedings against the three companies.

The IMF carefully monitors the situation of public budget arrears, in particular debts of state owned companies, which the international financial institutions have been complaining about for a long time.