A total of 1,565 people told the tax office they had secret savings in foreign bank accounts last year, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

On average they had €214,000 in savings, but some had up to €5m, the ministry said. The total amount of illicit savings was €335m.
Since 2002, the government has operated an amnesty for people with secret accounts. If they admit to having money stashed abroad they have to pay an extra tax surcharge but no fine and will not face criminal prosecution.
Earlier this year, junior finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said the fine for people found to have secret bank accounts abroad is to be tripled to 300% of the non-declared savings.