By Svetlana Andreeva
Amendments are being made to the Tax Code, which will affect only those specifically targeted by the tax authorities. Those affected will be asked to submit a declaration of income and property, while declaring the source of funds used to purchase a property (such as a bank loan), as well as their level of savings and interest earned on those deposits.
Belarusian banks do not openly provide information about borrowers or savers at present, since Article 121 of the Banking Code denotes that financial institutions are only obliged to provide such information to: the courts; public prosecutors or their deputies (with the approval of bodies of enquiry and preliminary investigation); the Financial Monitoring Department of the State Control Committee; notaries; the National Bank; and an organisation which exercises guaranteed indemnification of bank deposits.
Russia is bringing in a similar amendment from 1st July next year, obliging banks to report information to the tax authorities on the opening and closing of accounts by individuals. The tax authorities will, on demand, be able to learn about citizens’ deposit accounts, receiving statements. Access will only be possible where there is a confirmed request from the head of the regional department of the Federal Tax Service, and provided that the person targeted by the tax authorities is being inspected.
