Greece’s Supreme Court ruled that the seizure of bank deposits due to debts to the state without previous notice was against the Constitution. The judges had taken up a debtor’s complaint filed in 2006. The debtor had seen his pension being grabbed from his bank account due to debts to the tax office.
The court ruling is provisional, judges are expecting to take the final decision on a session on May 5th 2014.
But the Supreme Court ruling may influence the current practice of tax authorities to proceed to so-called “electronic seizure of bank accounts” without previous notice. This measure has been applied since 1.1.2014. Tax offices and insurance funds are allowed to seize the amount of debt from salary, pensions and rents, provided 1,000 euro will be left in the bank account.
More details of the Supreme Court ruling here in Greek
