In 2024, the tax authorities carried out 1.1 million garnishments to recover tax debts, four times more than in 2020, according to reports in L'Echo and De Tijd on Saturday.
Wage garnishment is a legal process where a portion of an individual's earnings is withheld by their employer to satisfy a debt, typically due to a court order. This means a creditor, often a court or government agency, can collect money owed by an employee by directly taking it from their paycheck.
Since 2016, the tax authorities have had greater latitude to pursue bad payers through garnishments. The 2024 annual report of the FPS Finance shows that the tax authorities are increasingly resorting to this radical procedure.
The tax authorities give two main explanations for the increase in figures. "Firstly, more and more public services are entrusting us with their debts. With an increase of 5 to 10% each year, we reached a total of €20 billion in 2024,“ explains Nele Matthys, spokesperson for the FPS Finance. ”Secondly, we have modernized our IT tools. Previously, the receipt of fines was not automated, which was time-consuming and prone to errors."
