Although the write-off of debts would be based on voluntary, and not legal basis, it turned out that the debtors would have to pay personal income tax at write-off of their debts. The act provides exemption from personal income tax on the debt.

The number of potential beneficiaries, i.e. the poorest citizens, is 100,000, and among the creditors there are 300 municipal utility companies, electricity companies, and municipalities. The act refers to debts which had been older than one year at the beginning of this year, and for which the execution procedure was already initiated.

At first it was suggested that every creditor could write off 99 euros, but municipalities warned that such a limit makes no sense. Robert Smrdelj, president of the Association of Municipalities, explained that for those who have no means for paying their debts that would only bring administrative complications. "It makes sense to write off the debt to those who have problems," he concluded.

Therefore the Ministry proposes a limitless write-off. "The companies will decide what would be acceptable for them, and then they will agree on the amount they would be willing to write off, in agreement with the debtor," the Minister of Labour Anja Kopač Mrak emphasized.

The actual time in which the project of the Ministry of Labour will come to life depends on the procedure of the adoption of the act. In case the act is adopted under an emergency procedure in July, the write-off of debts could start already in August.

Anja Huš, TV Slovenija
Translated by G. K.