Filenews 4 June 2025 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Strict messages to the administrations of the football clubs of the first division will be sent today by the Commissioner of Taxation, Sotiris Markidis.
After the uproar over the clubs' debts to the state and the decision of the Cyprus Football Federation (CFA) to certify the satisfaction of UEFA's criteria on their part, without fulfilling their obligations towards the state debt repayment plan, the Superintendent will set out the situation to the administrators today.
According to information from "F", today at 2 p.m., Mr. Markidis will have a meeting at the Ministry of Finance with executives from the 14 teams of the first division of the Cypriot league. It is expected that the Tax Commissioner will signal to the unions that this is the last chance they are given. It will indicate to them that with their first new slip (delay of three instalments), they will be expelled from the plan, as provided for by the decision of the Council of Ministers in May 2023.
In addition, they will be required to pay the interest and charges that had been set aside due to the participation of the unions in the plan. At the same time, the Registrar will ask for strict compliance with the provisions of the debt repayment plan and will warn that from now on he will not hesitate to activate the tax collection measures of the Tax Department, which according to the law are the placement of MEMO on the properties and the freezing of the banks' accounts. The criminal prosecution, through the Attorney General, of those who perpetuate debts to the state also remains in the Registrar's arsenal.
According to the plan, in case a club delays even one installment, it will have to pay it along with the next installment.
What does the plan cover?
The plan for the repayment of debts to the Tax Department runs normally for all 14 first-class teams. A few days ago, Apollon, Anorthosis and Ethnikos Achnas rejoined this, as did APOEL, despite the fact that they did not fully repay the new debts they created from May 2023 onwards. These groups will enter into a new plan of 145 instalments, the amount of which will be adjusted, depending on their total debts. With the inclusion of the four groups in the plan, their VAT and Income Tax debts will be covered from July 1, 2007 until the end of May 2025.
Set-offs
At the same time, the debts of the clubs will be offset against the total revenues they will have after the increase in the betting tax. Clubs, such as AEK Kition, which has no debts, will directly benefit from the increase in betting. The same will apply in the case of Paphos, ARIS and the AEL club, which have initiated the procedures for the full payment of their tax debts.
