The ability to settle their debts through the online platform of the extrajudicial mechanism (Law 4172/2013) was given to 338.000 farmers with debts to the Agricultural Insurance Organization (O.G.A.), as well as to 23.000 farmers with debts to the former Agricultural Bank! This option will be in effect initially until 31 December 2018, but an extension of this arrangement may be.

The four (4) basic axes of the aforementioned possibility of settling debts that farmers now have are summarized in the following points: a. the ability to write off capital up to 60%, in each case, if the repayment is agreed within three months – and as appropriate with a write-off of up to 40% in case the debtor chooses the 120 installments process over a period of 10 years; b. the option of writing off all interest on late payment, as well as the remission of the fines and surcharges of the Stte, based on the real estate of the debtor; c. re-evaluation of agreed interest rates; d. option of selling real estate for the purpose of repaying the remaining debt.

The above provision concerns all established debts to the tax authorities concerning the tax status of farmers. Specifically and indicatively, the debts that may be included in the settlement are farmers’ debts to the Tax Office for income, VAT, to the O.G.A for their insurance contributions, for debts to banks under liquidation status (formerly Agricultural Bank of Greece – A.T.E. -, former T.T., former F.B.b., former Probank, former Panhellenic Bank SA, former Cooperative Banks etc.), as well as certified debts to the Organization of the Greek Agricultural Insurance (ELGA).

The above legislative prediction helps farmers a lot concerning their debts. This is a real opportunity for all debtors in this category who are unable to meet their financial obligations.

Rhetor Law Firm undertakes the process of joining the platform of the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism and in particular: (a) the collection of all supporting documents; (b) the process of completing the fields of the electronic platform; (c) monitoring the entire negotiation procedure with the debtor’s creditors up to the final outcome.

For further information, please contact our highly specialized team of Extrajudicial Mechanism, which consists of a specialized economist and lawyers working in the fields of banking and tax law.