APOEL, Apollon, Anorthosis and Ethnikos Achnas are under the strict scrutiny of the Tax Department for their compliance with their tax obligations. After the ultimatum given to them by the state and their reinstatement in the plan for the settlement of tax debts in instalments, the competent tax authority in Cyprus awaits the implementation of the commitments they have given.
The four unions have paid the instalments for July and the officials of the Tax Department are waiting to find out if they will respond this month as well. The total amount of long-term tax debts of the four clubs amounts to €19.8 million, an amount that exceeds 50% of the debts, if one takes into account that 15 football clubs owe the state total tax liabilities that exceed €30 million.
However, the Commissioner of Taxation, Sotiris Markidis, made it clear both in person and privately to the leadership of all the unions that in case of non-compliance phenomena occur, he will take the necessary actions, regarding the taking of collection and judicial measures, including the registration of indictments against the administrative and leadership of the teams (former and current). Based on the 2023 plan and the arrangements made, all unions will pay their taxes in full by 2037, although some of them have already done so.
Here are the proposals and counter-proposals
"F" reveals the plans for the repayment of the tax debts of APOEL, Apollon Anorthosis and Ethnikos Achna, which led the Tax Commissioner to reinstate them in the government settlement of debts in instalments. We list the settlement proposals of the four football teams, as well as the position of the Tax Commissioner for their reintegration into the plan.
>> APOEL
In detail, APOEL, which has total tax debts of €11.6 million, pays the amount of €75,000. Specifically, at the beginning of the year its current debts were €1.8 million. That is, he has proceeded to the following proposal for the settlement of his debts: So far he has paid by cheque €700,000, while by the end of September he will also pay an amount of €200,000 (total €900,000). According to the letter sent by the Commissioner of Taxation to the Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, dated May 5, with the payment of the amount of €200,000 by October 1, the amount of repayment of outstanding debts will reach 48%.
"Given that it is clearly making serious efforts to comply with its obligations and processes are underway for a review of their mode of operation, changes in their budget management and reshuffles in the board of directors, I propose its reinstatement in the 2023 plan with an adjusted instalment amount based on the remaining instalments," the Superintendent said.
>> Apollonas
Apollon's repayment plan for the current tax debts of €1.3 million was as follows: He immediately paid the amount of €150,000, while by the end of April he had paid another €350,000. In fact, he has pledged by September 1 to pay another €200,000 and the remaining amount due to be included in the monthly instalments of the 2023 tax debt repayment plan. Last May, the Tax Commissioner had expressed the opinion that the company had paid the amount of €500,000, while by September 1 it plans to pay another €200,000. "Therefore, the repayment rate of the debts will amount to 53% of the outstanding debts and given that it is making serious efforts to comply with its obligations, I propose its reinstatement in the 2023 plan with an adjusted instalment amount based on the remaining instalments," Mr. Markidis underlined. It is worth noting that Apollon's total tax debts are €3.8 million paying the amount of €26,000 every month.
>> Anorthosis
Anorthosis' proposal concerned the gradual settlement of tax debts totalling €3.2 million. The outstanding debts it had at the beginning of the year were €650,000. The monthly instalment is €22,000. Specifically, Anorthosis had proposed the immediate payment of an amount of €200,000 (through the payment of an amount of €75,363, an amount of €49,636 from the CSO and €75,000, an amount that the President of the Republic had promised to the union as a birthday present last January). It has also committed to pay €200,000 by the end of August and the balances of the late instalments to be added to the remaining outstanding instalments and to be repaid gradually. For his part, the Commissioner of Taxation had claimed that Anorthosis had paid the amount of €125,000, the amount of €75,000 was expected that the President of the Republic had given them as a gift and by the end of the month they will pay another €200,000. "By September 1, the repayment rate will amount to 62% of the outstanding debts and because it is making serious efforts to comply with its obligations," the Registrar noted. He also added that the new Board of Directors took over in October last year.
>> Ethnikos Achnas
In relation to Ethnikos Achnas, it has created current debts of €101,000, while the total tax debts amount to €1.2 million. With its reintegration into the plan, it will pay an instalment of €8,000 per month. In the proposal made by Ethnikos last April, he had argued that he was unable to pay the current debts. Also, it is a refugee association with limited resources, while when it joined the plan in 2023 it had paid all its instalments. In fact, he had proposed to divide the amount of VAT debt into the 147 remaining instalments with an increase in the monthly instalment by €700 in order to be able to cope. For his part, the Tax Commissioner had suggested that the team be re-included in the 2023 plan, as it had complied with the payment of the instalments and because it is a refugee and border association with financial problems, which also offers social work in the area of Achna. At the same time, he had argued that the amount owed is very small compared to the outstanding total debts of the companies.
Based on the correspondence between the Ministry of Finance, the Department of Taxation and the CFA, the football companies that are tax compliant are PAFOS, Omonia Nicosia, AEK, ARIS, Paralimni Youth Union, Olympiacos, Akritas Chlorakas, Ypsona Youth Union, Omonia Aradippou and AEL.
Things are dark about the debts to the TCA
The biggest problem does not seem to be tax debts but debts to Social Insurance, which reach €12 million. This is because there is no possibility of including debtors in the settlement of overdue social contributions and therefore they will have to pay their debts immediately.
As "F" revealed, 18 companies/unions had not settled their debts and were not included in a settlement. Also, eight unions had their debts settled to the Social Insurance Fund and only one of them, namely Ethnikos Achnas, participates in the regulation of overdue social contributions.
Based on the data forwarded to the Parliament, APOEL has overdue debts to the Social Insurance Fund of €5.4 million, Apollon €2.86 million, AEL (company and club) €963,000, Anorthosis €1.11 million, Omonia 1948 Athletic Popular Association has debts of €57,674, Omonia Aradippou €33,466, Othellos Athienou €120,137, AEZ €182,253, DOXA THOIKO katokopias €205,802, Olympiacos €23,131, PAEEK €13,193 and Hermes €66,000. It is recalled that current and former executives of APOEL and Anorthosis have already been prosecuted and brought to justice.
