They want to expand the list of criminally punishable methods of obtaining tax, banking and commercial secrets

Access to bank secrecy

The bank secrecy regime provides for restricting access to information about the client’s accounts, financial status and transactions. In addition to the owner, such information is available only to the bank and a limited circle of employees of law enforcement and regulatory authorities: credit history bureaus, courts, investigative, tax and customs authorities, the Accounts Chamber, the DIA, the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insurance Fund, the FSSP, the Federal Tax Service, the Federal Customs Service. Disclosure of information is carried out in the manner and volume specified by law. To provide access to bank secrets, a court decision, a prosecutor's sanction, an order and other documents are required.

Results

Information classified as a tax secret is confidential information, access to which is legally limited. Classified tax information, with the consent of the taxpayer, can become publicly available after a special consent is issued, the form of which is regulated by a joint order of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

Sources:

• Tax Code of the Russian Federation
• Order of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated November 15, 2016 No. ММВ-7-17/ [email protected]

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

Bank Secrecy Act

Bank secrecy laws are in effect in many countries around the world: Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, the USA and others.

In Russia, the content of bank secrecy and responsibility for its disclosure are determined by the following rules: - Art. 857 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; - Art. 26 of the Federal Law “On Banks and Banking Activities” N 395-1 of December 2, 1990; - Parts 2, 3, 4 art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The procedure for providing information to individual government bodies is regulated by orders and regulations.

Judicial practice: sentences and punishment under Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

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Protection of bank secrecy

Legal protection of bank secrecy is ensured by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Guarantors of bank secrecy - financial institution, Bank of Russia, deposit insurance agency.

To protect banking secrecy, financial institutions must: - limit the circle of persons who have access to information constituting banking secrecy; — organize separate office work with documents containing bank secrecy; — use technical means to prevent unauthorized access to storage media; — apply warnings about the need to maintain bank secrecy and responsibility for its disclosure in agreements between the bank and the client.

Taxpayer consent to disclosure of information: form 2020

SNT in certain cases can move from the classified category to the public category (clause 1 of article 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, clause 4 of article 31 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Such a transition occurs with the consent of the taxpayer in a form regulated by law.

In 2021, the order of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated November 15, 2016 No. ММВ-7-17/ [email protected] is in force, approving:

• form and format of the taxpayer’s consent to recognize SNT as publicly available information;
• scheme for filling out the form;
• algorithm for presenting the form to tax authorities.

The consent form consists of two sheets and in many fields it is very similar to a tax return or other tax report that is familiar to all taxpayers, but it also includes specific fields:

Failure to comply with this consent form may serve as grounds for refusal to accept it by the tax authorities.

ConsultantPlus experts explained how to correctly fill out and submit consent to recognize tax secrets as publicly available. Get trial access to the system and switch to a ready-made solution. View a sample of filling out the document for free.

What types of consents and objections taxpayers face - see the materials and messages:

• “Consent to the processing of personal data of a minor - sample”;
• “Objection to a court order on transport tax (sample)”.

Responsibility for disclosure of bank secrecy

There are civil, administrative and criminal penalties for disclosing bank secrets.

The bank can be brought to civil liability by submitting to the management of the financial institution a claim for compensation for losses caused by the disclosure of information constituting bank secrecy.

To bring a credit institution to administrative responsibility for disclosing bank secrets, a client of a financial institution must submit an application to the police or prosecutor's office.

For illegal disclosure of bank secrets, resulting in grave consequences, criminal liability is provided in accordance with Parts 2, 3, 4 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Forms and methods for tax authorities to obtain information constituting tax secrets

Art. dedicated to tax secrecy. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation defines tax secrets as any information about the taxpayer with the exception of certain types of information listed in paragraph 1 of this article. At the same time, the forms and methods of obtaining SNT, as well as their composition and content, are not regulated by law.

Based on the content of information received by officials, the following information may be classified as SNT:

• directly related to tax issues;
• others (not related to taxes, fees and contributions) of a confidential nature (for example, personal or family secrets).

The main way for government officials to obtain SNT is to request documents when carrying out tax control procedures (Article 82 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), including:

• tax audits;
• inspection of premises and territories used to generate income by the taxpayer;
• obtaining explanations from business entities;
• other procedures provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Tax authorities can obtain SNT in other ways, for example, individuals and organizations listed in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation are required to provide the tax authority with information known to them about the taxpayer (Articles 85, 86, 90, etc.).

All information about the taxpayer obtained as a result of control activities and the exercise of other official powers by tax officials belongs to the SNT category.

What is banking secrecy?

Bank secrecy includes: - data on the status of customer accounts; — operations carried out on behalf of the client; — financial situation of clients; — security systems for the bank and clients; — information about the structure of the legal entity - the client, about managers, types of activities; — data on clients’ commercial activities; — information about the bank’s reporting, with the exception of those subject to publication; — information security codes, as well as other data, the list of which may be established by the financial institution.

Advice from Sravni.ru: When opening a bank account, you should carefully read the section of the agreement containing information on the protection of bank secrecy.

Where to apply, sample application

Before turning to law enforcement agencies to restore justice, the head of the enterprise must conduct an internal investigation in accordance with the mechanisms that are prescribed in the regulation on the protection of trade secrets:

1. Identification of the employee who violated the trade secret regime.
2. Even if this team member is dismissed from work, it is necessary to send him a request for an explanatory note. There is a chance to establish what will be determined, how and under what circumstances, including for what purpose the secrecy regime was violated. Such a request will not be subsequently accepted by the investigation if it does not contain facts established by the employer. If the employee continues to carry out his work functions, then the request must be submitted against signature. If he resigned, then the document should be sent to him by mail (by registered mail with notification).
3. After the inspection has been carried out and explanations taken, a protocol is drawn up.

If the violator’s actions contain signs of a crime, he will be held accountable.

Since we are talking about criminal punishment, to initiate proceedings in the case, you should contact law enforcement agencies with a corresponding application. The application is accompanied by a set of documents that were previously drawn up during the proceedings within the organization. A sample application can be found on the Internet or requested from the investigator.

Important! The application must indicate the circumstances that would qualify the employee’s act as a crime. If there are none, then the initiation of a criminal case will be refused.

The application must contain the following mandatory details:

• written to the head of the investigative body;
• drawn up on behalf of the director of the organization or an authorized representative (the power of attorney is signed by the director of the company);
• First of all, the circumstances of the violation of the confidential nature of information and the subject who committed the crime are indicated;
• describes how the illegal act became known;
• the actual damage that arose due to ignoring the principle of secrecy is indicated.

If the application indicates alleged risks, they will not be taken into account when raising the issue of initiating a criminal case.