The application process for the new overdue tax debt settlement scheme, which allows repayment in up to 72 installments, is expected to launch within the coming week and no later than July 20. According to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), the option “Debt settlement – Debt settlement application under Law 5313/2026” will soon be activated on the myAADE platform, through which eligible individuals can enroll in the new arrangement provided under the so-called “Pierrakakis Law” on private debt.
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Commenting on the new initiative, the Minister of National Economy and Finance stated: “This is a second-chance policy. But in essence, it is a policy of economic reintegration.”
The new up-to-72-installment plan for tax debts will run in parallel with a similar scheme for debts owed to e-EFKA (the social security authority) from unpaid insurance contributions. Both schemes apply to old debts incurred up to the end of 2023. However, when combined with the standing arrangement for more recent debts, they can reduce the monthly payment by nearly half for hundreds of thousands of debtors.
How debtors choose their installment plan
Once the application feature goes live on the myAADE platform, it will show each debtor a breakdown of their outstanding balance and the installment schedule they are required to follow. The more months a debtor chooses to spread the repayment over, the lower the monthly installment becomes. Conversely, the fewer months selected, the less interest they will accrue over time.
The new arrangement is a temporary measure and will remain open until December 31, 2026. It is aimed at individuals with old, unresolved debts owed to the tax authority, customs offices, and social security funds who are seeking a more realistic path to repayment. For tax debts specifically, the first installment must be paid within three days of submitting the application (while for customs or KEAO/EFKA debts, payment is due by the end of the following month), meaning applicants must be financially prepared before they proceed.
Who benefits from the 72-installment debt settlement plan and how
The defining feature of the new scheme is that it does not treat all debts the same way. Debts incurred up to December 31, 2023 are eligible for the 72-installment arrangement. By contrast, debts arising from January 1, 2024 onwards — or those that have been renegotiated since that date — will continue to be managed under the existing standing arrangement of 24 installments.
This distinction was introduced to prevent a mass exodus from active standing arrangements. On the other hand, it limits the expectations of those who had hoped for a single, unified settlement covering all debts regardless of when they were incurred, and offering even more installment options.
Nevertheless, according to data from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, more than 1.5 million individuals and legal entities still burdened with old, unresolved pre-2024 debts stand to benefit from the new scheme.
The new arrangement does not replace the standing one — it operates alongside it. For debtors, the practical result is a lower overall monthly payment, as the older portion of the debt is spread over six years while the more recent portion remains on the 24-month plan.
In practice, the new scheme is likely to prove especially useful for three key categories of debtors.
- First, those with large debts — exceeding €150,000 — who are looking for a way to settle part of their obligations and avoid consequences such as being listed publicly on the registry of major debtors.
- Second, small and medium-sized debtors with balances of roughly €2,000 to €50,000, who make up the vast majority of citizens trying to stay compliant. In most of these cases, a significant portion of the debt was incurred before 2024 and can therefore be transferred to the 72-installment plan, noticeably reducing the monthly burden.
- Third, debtors with old debts that have already led to asset seizures. In particular, those with relatively small balances — in the range of €3,000 to €5,000 — have an incentive to immediately pay off one quarter of the debt and enroll the remainder in the 72-installment plan, thereby clearing the way for the lifting of enforcement measures for the next five to six years.
The benefit: cutting the monthly payment in half
The key advantage of the new scheme is precisely this: it reduces the monthly installment on older debts and makes the overall repayment burden more manageable. For debtors, the reduction in monthly payments can reach approximately 30% to 50%, depending on how large a share of the debt was incurred before 2024.
For example:
- An individual with a total debt of €7,000 — of which €5,000 is old debt — will not need to repay the full amount under a 24-installment plan. They can place the €5,000 in the 72-installment scheme and the remaining €2,000 in the 24-installment plan, bringing the combined monthly payment down to approximately €171, compared to €310 if the entire amount were repaid over 24 installments.
- Similarly, for a total debt of €4,000 — with €3,000 being pre-2024 obligations — the combined monthly payment could drop to around €95, compared to approximately €177 under the standing arrangement alone. For a debtor with limited liquidity, this difference can be decisive.
- For larger debts — such as a business with a total liability of €300,000, half of which is old debt — the benefit is even more pronounced. Instead of a monthly burden exceeding €13,000, the combined use of the 72- and 24-installment plans could bring the monthly payment down to approximately €9,000.
In other words, the new scheme is not a blanket solution for all debts. It is, however, a tool that — when combined with the standing arrangement — can make repayment far more realistic for many debtors. The critical step is to correctly categorize the debts and calculate in advance whether the new, lower monthly installment is genuinely sustainable over the long term.
“We know very well that for many of our fellow citizens, for professionals and small and medium-sized businesses, the unresolved burdens of the past continue to weigh on the present and limit the future,” said Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis as he presented the new measure. “There are people who are not walking away from their obligations. They want to settle. They want to be compliant. They want to re-enter normal economic life. But they need a realistic framework to do so. They need a state that extends a helping hand rather than wags a finger. It is to these people that we are speaking — not to strategic defaulters, but to those who are trying. To those who want to get back on their feet,” the minister emphasized.
