Authorities do not ensure full collection of revenues to the state budget from enterprises that have entered bankruptcy proceedings. And the procedures for managing claims to the state budget, which are accepted by debtors in the framework of bankruptcy procedures, are not fulfilled. Such a conclusion was made by the external audit, which checked how insolvent economic entities fulfill their obligations.
In this sense, the budget is under-recovering the debtors’ assets by the amounts of tax liabilities on all income items – social and medical contributions, other receivables to the budget. The process is complicated by numerous organizational, procedural, operational and interagency shortcomings that reduce the effectiveness of debt collection.
The State Tax Service identifies debtors in insolvency late. For example, out of 48 cases with accounts receivable of almost 4 billion lei, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated only in 18 cases. Courts delay the consideration of bankruptcy cases, with terms sometimes exceeding 510 days. The publication of court decisions is also delayed, in some cases up to 866 days. Not surprisingly, the monitoring of matured obligations is difficult and the rights of creditors, including the state, are infringed. The lack of a complete and functional bankruptcy registry only exacerbates these shortcomings.
The audit also revealed significant delays in the verification of tax claims, up to 823 days, which affected their inclusion in the total amount of recognized creditors’ claims. At the same time, irregularities in the activities of authorized administrators were revealed, also related to delay and negligence. In some cases, bankruptcy procedures remained incomplete for up to 8 years.
