$27B tax debt to be restructured under new program

ANKARA (AA) – Nearly 4.8 million people have applied to use a tax debt restructuring package for a total of some 90 billion liras (around $27 billion), Turkish Finance Minister Naci Agbal said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference on the restructuring program, Agbal said the great interest from taxpayers shows the initiative’s success.

“Our citizens have shown great interest in this new regulation. Nearly 4.8 million taxpayers applied to restructure their tax debts, suggesting that 76 percent of our debtors benefitted from the debt restructuring,” he said.

Agbal added that the Revenues Administration Center’s Tax Communication Department has gotten over 250,000 phone calls since the program began.

Of 90 billion liras of tax debt and 12.4 billion liras ($3.65 billion) of fines or late fees was cut or eliminated under the program, with some 77.6 billion liras ($22.8 billion) to be collected.

The new tax restructuring scheme is getting a better response than the one in 2011, Agbal said, stressing there was a 68.5 percent rise in applications and 99 percent increase in overall restructured tax volume compared to the old program.