Police to track down £30 million in unpaid social insurance

OVER the next few days, eight police officers will undertake the role of tax collector with the sole purpose of collecting £30 million in unpaid social insurance.

According to Phileleftheros £10 million is owed by employers and the rest is owed by individuals registered as self-employed.

The team of eight will be spread out across the island with three in Nicosia, two in Limassol, two in Larnaca and one in Paphos.

Over and above the special tax collectors’ team, the Labour Ministry is said to be preparing a bill that will introduce more stringent penalties in the hope they will deter tax evaders. According to the paper, the law proposes increasing existing penalties from up to six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of £750, to up to one year’s imprisonment and/or a £2,000 fine.

The Labour Ministry is also said to be examining the issue of repeat offenders, who could face up to two years’ imprisonment and/or a £3,000 fine.

Meanwhile, the ministry is looking at increasing penalty fees for delayed social insurance payments from the current 3-15 per cent of the total amount owed, to 27 per cent on the amount owed.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.