An amendment to the Tax Code that allows tax administrators to collect more information relating to taxpayers was published in the Collection of Laws of 5 June 2018. The amendment reflects the European Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC 5) that aims to ensure access to information for the purpose of combating money laundering. A newly introduced duty to provide information applies to the so-called obliged entities and information collected by them in accordance with the AML Act. Consequently, in addition to financial institutions, it shall mainly affect regulated advisors. Tax administrators may now request for example information about attorneys authorized to manage financial funds in bank accounts, individuals who deposited financial funds in an accounts, payees, and about rented safety deposit boxes. According to the bank associations, the amendment is very problematic with regard to disclosure of a wide range of highly sensitive information relating to clients that may be requested by tax administrators.
With the exception of attorneys at law and members of professional associations, tax administrators may request data for the purpose of international information exchange and domestic tax administration. This exceeds the scope of the European legislation that only requires access to information for the purpose of international tax administration. The amendment sets down an exception for members of professional associations, according to which only the General Financial Directorate may request the relevant information and not tax administrators themselves.
