About 97,000 companies are behind on repaying their corona debts to the government, of which more than 60,000 entrepreneurs have not even repaid anything. This is evident from a report sent by State Secretary Marnix van Rij (Tax and Tax Administration, CDA) on Wednesday. letter to the House of Representatives. The entrepreneurs have a total debt of about 16.5 billion euros.
The number of companies with payment arrears is decreasing more slowly than the government wishes. Last March, this still concerned about 103,000 companies, of which 73,000 companies had not yet repaid anything at that time. The Cabinet called out entrepreneurs to repay the amount advanced or to seek help.
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In March and April, entrepreneurs received a debt and payment statement. Entrepreneurs who did not respond to this received a reminder letter. In June, the Tax and Customs Administration will start withdrawing corona payment arrangements. After that, the government, if necessary, starts with compulsory collections.
Last October, 266,000 entrepreneurs started paying off the debts from the support packages they received during the corona crisis. They do this in a maximum of sixty installments. The government support allowed companies to continue to pay their staff during the lockdowns. More than 26,000 companies have now fully repaid their debt, about 10 percent of the total number of companies.