Administrative fines for undeclared work owed by 706 employers and self-employed people total 73 million euros, well above the 58 million euros first estimated. A bill before parliament would mean only 8.6 million euros being collected.
The House Labour Committee is due to discuss the bill on Tuesday. The new figures, which the Labour Ministry sent to parliament on Monday and Phileleftheros has seen, cover debts from the last quarter of 2017 to 17 September 2026.
If the bill passes, the state would write off 64.3 million euros, a cut of 88.16 per cent, and collect 11.84 per cent of the fines.
What the bill proposes
Under current law, anyone who breaches the undeclared work legislation and fails to pay the fine on time is charged 50 euros for every day of delay, with no upper limit. The bill would cap the increase for late payment at twice the original fine, backdated to 2 June 2017.
Who owes
A breakdown sent to the committee shows 904 administrative fines were outstanding as of 17 September. They correspond to 706 debtors: 595 employers, both companies and individuals, and 111 self-employed people.
A total of 392 of the debtor employers have active employees registered with Social Insurance Services, and they owe 28.9 million euros. Of these, 270 employers with up to 10 workers owe 19.3 million euros, 160 with between 11 and 50 workers owe 6.8 million euros, and 16 with more than 50 workers owe 2.7 million euros.
According to the Labour Ministry, 6,913 people work for employers who owe fines, 1,896 of them in construction.
Separately, 41 debtors have appealed to the Administrative Court against decisions by the ministry’s three-member committee, and debtors facing 32 fines have challenged decisions by the head of the Inspections Service in court. Another 11 fines, on which nothing was paid, were cancelled by the ministry’s Objections Committee.
What has been collected
A total of 4,621 fines were imposed between 2017 and September this year. Of these, 3,551, or 77 per cent, were paid with a 30 per cent discount, bringing in 5.9 million euros.
In 135 cases, the original fine was paid in full along with the increases and charges, after the 30-day discount period had expired and the 50-euros-a-day surcharge had applied. These payments brought in 458,650 euros. Twelve of these fines were paid with an increase equal to twice the original penalty, amounting to 53,300 euros.
For another 147 fines, only the original amount has been paid, bringing in 462,000 euros, while the increases from the daily surcharges are still owed to Social Insurance Services. The state is due 2.8 million euros from this category, which would fall to 680,550 euros if the bill passes.
A further 758 fines remain completely unpaid. If they were collected under the current law, the state would receive 70.1 million euros. Under the proposed arrangement, it would collect 7.9 million euros.
Ministry under pressure
The Labour Ministry has refused MPs’ request for a list naming the companies that still owe fines to the state.
At Tuesday’s session, ministry officials will try to persuade MPs that the bill is needed, arguing that collecting the debts without it would carry a high administrative cost.
The Finance Ministry and the Treasury have backed the bill in memos to parliament. The Accountant General warned that 51 million euros in debts accumulated up to early 2025 is in practice uncollectable, citing the debtors’ possible inability to pay.
Most parties oppose the bill, as they do not want large debtors cleared of their debts.
