Tax authorities want access to data on bank accounts of Ukrainians and businesses
21 October 2024 11:53
The State Tax Service is developing proposals that provide for access to banking secrecy of citizens and businesses, which could significantly affect the legal relationship between tax authorities, banks and taxpayers. This was reported by MP and member of the Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy Nina Yuzhanina, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Yuzhanina recalled a clause in the National Revenue Strategy that states that the tax service will have access to data on Ukrainians’ bank accounts.
“There is still a warning that this will happen after effective measures are taken to restore confidence in the work of the tax authorities (especially in terms of handling personal data of taxpayers) and to provide the society with guarantees to prevent the use of these expanded powers to put pressure on individual taxpayers and obstruct their work. Only then can we talk about expanding the powers of tax authorities to access information on the movement of funds in taxpayers’ bank accounts,” she reminded.
The MP also stressed that no steps have been taken to increase the level of taxpayers’ confidence in the actions of the tax authorities. At the same time, she said, proposals for legislative changes to make it easier for banks to disclose information that is considered bank secrecy have already been developed.
“The State Tax Service proposes to include, in particular, information on transactions on the accounts of a particular legal entity, individual entrepreneur or ordinary citizen for a certain period of time, indicating counterparties and payment purposes. Banks will have to provide such information for the purpose of conducting documentary audits of banks and their separate divisions,” Yuzhanina explained.
According to her, the State Tax Service intends to receive information that constitutes bank secrecy about bank clients who are not subject to the relevant tax audits.
This has already caused concern at the National Bank, which believes that the current legislation already provides the tax authorities with the necessary powers to obtain the necessary data.
“The NBU has reviewed these proposals and concluded that the provisions of the Tax Code provide the tax authorities with sufficient grounds to obtain the necessary data. And by court decision, the tax authorities can access information containing bank secrecy to a much greater extent than the State Tax Service proposes, but for this purpose, it needs to provide justification for the expediency and availability of grounds for obtaining such information,” Yuzhanina said.
She added that expanding the current legal requirements for disclosure of banking secrecy by the National Bank without a justified need (as proposed by the State Tax Service) could be a step backwards in the implementation of EU legislation.
Yuzhanina reminded that in 2016, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a negative opinion on the equivalence of the confidentiality/professional secrecy regime in Ukrainian banking legislation to the requirements of European legislation, and this still results in refusals to exchange information with central banks and regulators of EU member states.
“In view of this, the National Bank believes that the legislative proposals of the State Tax Service need to be significantly revised before being submitted to the Parliament in order to determine the optimal amount of information constituting banking secrecy that banks will disclose at the request of the State Tax Service,” – said the MP.
Yuzhanina said that she personally learned about the State Tax Service’s proposals, which are being considered by the Tax Committee for further submission to the Parliament, from a letter from the NBU.
“Once again, they are secretly developing rules aimed exclusively against business and citizens. Who is the ideologist of the destruction of the Ukrainian economy?” – the MP wonders.
