Kravchenko: tax authorities' access to banking secrecy within the country will be possible if the law is adopted
Kyiv • UNN
The State Tax Service of Ukraine is already using information that is banking secrecy, receiving it from other countries. Access to the banking secrecy of Ukrainians is possible if the law is passed.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine already uses information that is a banking secret, receiving it from other countries within the framework of automatic tax exchange (CRS). However, access to the banking secrecy of Ukrainians within the country will be possible only if the relevant legislation is adopted. This was announced by the head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko, in an interview with "Economic Truth", reports UNN.
Details
Kravchenko explained that the State Tax Service has already launched an important reform, which is part of the National Revenue Strategy. And it is part of fulfilling obligations to international partners, in particular the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to him, this reform includes such steps as: personnel work, employee training, internal fight against corruption.
"The revenue strategy envisages work to increase the level of voluntary tax payment. We must approve and launch the tax risk management process - when enterprises fall into the inspection plan on the basis of automatically identified risks, draw up and check the criteria for this riskiness," Kravchenko said.
He added that the strategic goal of the State Tax Service reform is to restore trust.
"The State Tax Service is trying to be transparent and open. Together with the directors of departments, we hold meetings with business, we try to establish communication. How was it before? An enterprise, for example, was classified as risky, but no one can explain what the reason was. Now we have created consulting centers. I am trying to force State Tax Service employees to call and explain to enterprises what was the reason for such a decision. There was no such communication before," Kravchenko explained.
To clarify the question regarding trust in the tax authorities - is such an emphasis in the revenue strategy made because the State Tax Service should provide access to banking secrecy, and is the tax authority ready to receive such access, Kravchenko noted: "Recently there was a meeting with the IMF, during which the issue of how we use the information received from other countries within the framework of automatic tax exchange (CRS) was raised. 50 countries have joined this system, information is being exchanged. Currently, the State Tax Service is already receiving information that is a banking secret from other countries. We use it and store it securely."
To clarify whether we are talking about the accounts of Ukrainians in foreign banks, and not about the accounts of Ukrainians in Ukraine, the head of the State Tax Service noted: "Yes, because there is a law."
Law enforcement agencies can gain access to banking secrecy by applying with a request to an investigating judge within the framework of criminal proceedings. If such access is granted to us by law, then the question will arise in which system (software - ed.) we will work with banking secrecy. Another question is the storage of information
"I believe that the State Tax Service is ready for this. Although there are different opinions regarding potential abuses, such access will definitely not apply to those citizens who pay taxes and do not break the law," he added.
When asked whether Kravchenko supports the idea of granting access to banking secrecy to the tax authorities, he answered: "I am an executor of the law: if there is a law, we will execute it, if there is no law, we will not."
Let us remind
Earlier in an interview with Forbes, the head of the NBU, Andriy Pyshny, stated the inadmissibility of uncontrolled access to banking secrecy.
According to him, the EU has established practices and requirements for combating money laundering and tax evasion, but nowhere does it provide for unlimited access to banking secrecy.
