If you have a debt to the Treasury, learn how to pay it and avoid more.
If you have a debt to the Tax Authority (AT), you may face serious consequences from additional costs to asset seizure. Understand how to pay and avoid future debts.
How to avoid future debt to the IRS?
The cost of living is high and money is not enough until the end of the month, it is easy to keep postponing certain debts. However, some may end up costing you more.
According to the warning from DECO PROteste in an article, one should avoid, as much as possible, debts to the Tax Authority (AT). This is because, among the stages of debt collection, there is everything from a collection notice to the sale of seized goods.
When you have a debt to the tax authorities, you receive a note from the AT specifying the amount that the taxpayer is missing and the deadline by which it must be paid - and how.
Increasing the interest and other costs, you can pay off the current debt upon receiving the default notification stating that you are in an irregular situation.
After that, the fiscal enforcement process begins when one is "alerted, by letter, of the opening of the fiscal enforcement process and its consequences. You can still pay, with interest and other fees (court fees and others)," the article reads.
The default interest rate, set annually by the Agency for Treasury and Public Debt Management - IGCP, is set at 8.876 percent and has been rising in recent years. It applies to debts to the State resulting from contributions, taxes, fees, and other taxes, whose payment occurs after the deadline for voluntary payment", it can also be read.
Then comes the seizure. Which involves the seizure of assets, real estate or even rights and income (with or without notice). If there are no seizable assets, the process is suspended three months later, until assets appear.
Know also that the IRS can sell the seized assets, receiving a notice that the assets or properties will be sold, with one last opportunity for you to settle the debt before the sale.
How to pay a debt to the Tax Authority?
To pay the debt to the Tax Authority within the payment deadline, you can do so through online banking, at ATMs, in banking institutions, at CTT post offices, or at any treasury office of the Tax Department.
DECO explains that a good option may be to activate the direct debit possibility, without associated costs, allowing "taxes to be paid at a date before the deadline". "The billing date is communicated to you by postal mail approximately 15 days in advance. Direct debit can be canceled at any time. Just access your personal area on the Finance portal, choose Services > Direct Debit > Submit a membership request".
There are three payment options, from payment in one month to requesting payment in installments, and the delivery of goods to replace debts.
In the case of debts to the IRS, it may be different, as warned by the consumer defense association.
Debts of equal or less than 5 thousand euros can be paid in installments, without any guarantee, if you do not owe other taxes. However, the number of installments must be equal or less than 12.
"The association clarifies that a maximum of 36 monthly installments are allowed, with a minimum value of one quarter of 25.50 euros in 2024 - that is 6.35 euros."
To pay in installments, the request must be made on the Finance Portal, considering the first installment must be made in the month following the notification of the payment plan.
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