According to a press release of the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament has passed the government's bill 924 SE. It changes the anti-money laundering act, the Taxation Act and the act implementing the codes of civil and enforcement procedure.
The amendments give both authorities, the Tax and Customs Board and the Financial Intelligence Unit, a clearer basis for receiving information from third parties, mainly about bank accounts. In tax proceedings the board may ask credit institutions for information, and this right also reaches bank secrecy.
A request that the board sends through the enforcement register must now describe the facts of the case and say why the taxable person could not provide the information. The press release says: This will make information requests more transparent and help to limit unjustified interference with individual rights.
Where it is justified, the anti-money laundering unit may use the enforcement register to see account balances and statements, but only as far as a specific case requires and only if the data cannot be obtained another way. An account holder will normally learn of such an inquiry four years after the statement was received, not five years as first planned.
The changes follow observations by the Chancellor of Justice and a recent interpretation by the Supreme Court. The act passed with 55 votes in favour and 20 against.
Source: Riigikogu, . The text above is our own summary; the words in quotation marks are the source's.
What this means for an Estonian entrepreneur
An Estonian company should expect that the Tax and Customs Board can obtain its bank data in tax proceedings, also past bank secrecy, and that a request must be justified. Keeping accounting records and the documents behind bank transactions complete makes it easier to answer the board directly, before it turns to the bank.
We collect and organise the documents a company needs when the Tax and Customs Board asks it for information or explanations. Document preparation when the Tax and Customs Board asks for information