The term "tax secret" has been common in jurisprudence since 1999. It was from this time that his widespread use in speech began. A tax secret is information about a person who is a taxpayer. Such information is received by the tax service and law enforcement system, investigative authorities and customs.
This information is protected and therefore access is limited. It is important to respect its secrecy. The level of accessibility to such information is not affected by legal status. There are several aspects to tax secrecy.
Tax activity
This concept includes many government departments that perform their functions. This is the official structure that implements the tax policy of the country. The work of such institutions is needed to recover funds from individuals and legal entities for the stable functioning of the Russian Federation. The system is considered centralized and indivisible. It employs several bodies that control the area of replenishment of the budget with taxes and fees. This institution has many employees, which ensures effective operation.
What is included in it?
All tax authorities have access to information related to the material and property status of the taxpayer. Due to access to such data, great harm can be caused to both one person and the entire institution. That is why there was such a term as tax secret. This concept allows not to make information publicly available.
What is included in it? The information constituting tax secret is as follows:
- data on taxpayers from documents of a primary nature;
- official income or expenses;
- financial situation ;
- tax information;
- personal information.
These data are in the tax service. They are forbidden to disclose, as this is not permitted by law. A request for such information is possible only in exceptional cases, and even then with legal permission. Then the person will not be held responsible for this.
Who should keep a secret?
All data included in the concept of "tax secrecy" is important information that should not be disclosed by persons. They are transferred to carry out professional tasks by authorized persons. These include employees of some organizations, such as:
- tax system;
- law enforcement agencies;
- customs authorities;
- extrabudgetary funds;
- experts.
Tax secret is information that is available to employees of many institutions in connection with their position. This should not be used for other purposes, otherwise liability is provided.
What is not included in this concept?
Tax secrecy is information that is prohibited for disclosure. But there is information that is not included in this concept. They are indicated in article 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. These include:
- Publicly Available Information. There is a Federal Law “On Personal Data” No. 152, according to which public information includes: F. I. O., date and place of birth, phone number, profession. This applies to individuals. If it is an individual entrepreneur or a company, then the name of the company, form of ownership, address, structure, information about the manager are referred to publicly available information. The list may be larger if consent has been given to the disclosure of information.
- INN This does not require secrecy. You can find this number even via the Internet, indicating the data of an individual or legal entity.
- Violations. Such information is in open documents, for example, in the USRLE or the USRIP. In addition to the fact of violation, measures taken may be indicated.
- Financial situation. These data are published only in some cases, for example, during the verification of a person who is running for deputy. Information is sent to the election company. Find out information about the material condition of a simple citizen does not work.
- Tax regime. This is not a secret.
- Information for local government. The indicated data is not included in non-disclosed information when it is transmitted about certain payers of fees.
Such data is accessible, because their knowledge does not threaten anyone's security.
Tax returns
Information from tax documentation is confidential. The company is interested in hiding data about customers and suppliers, options for performing its work. This is a commercial tax secret. Federal Law "On Commercial Secret" No. 98 in Art. 5 contains a list of data that is not classified as a trade secret. Tax returns are not listed. Therefore, they may be classified as trade secrets.
trade secret
In the USSR, the concept of trade secret was not widespread, since it was considered a relic of capitalism. But with the transition to a market economy, the need arose to use this term. Trade secret is a regime of secrecy of some information necessary for an economic entity to increase income and reduce costs. The list of classified data should be:
- real;
- classified from persons who are not in the category of initiates;
- legitimate.
State, banking, official secrets have their own norms. Banks as a type of commercial institution can by their decisions introduce commercial secrets under Federal Law No. 98. These organizations protect data about customers and their operations. Implementation is monitored by government agencies.
A bank may assign information that is part of a trade secret to information that provides advantages over other organizations. This may be the methodology of working with clients, used computer technology, information about new products.
Kinds
This information may include:
- production secrets;
- economic secrets;
- intellectual property.
The mystery relates to documentation, computer databases, information on disks, flash memory, conferences, devices.
Disclosure
Compliance with tax secrets is the responsibility of all employees. This is a requirement of the law. The disclosure of tax secrets involves the use of information by the person who received it. For example, transfer to other citizens. Information is in databases, there is a strict access mode to it, storage is organized. This is considered an important measure, since the loss of documentation or its transfer to others leads to liability.
The transfer of data at the request of the judicial authorities or the investigation will not be a violation of the law. Article 102 of the Tax Code includes 2 options for violating confidentiality:
- The flow of information to people who do their job.
- Loss of documents containing important data.
Confidentiality is an important aspect in the modern world.
Responsibility
For the disclosure of information constituting a tax secret, there are 3 types of liability:
- Material. According to Article 1069 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, compensation is carried out from the state budget.
- Administrative The guilty person pays a fine in the amount of 4-5 thousand rubles.
- Criminal Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for imprisonment of 3-5 years depending on the damage.
Gaining access to tax secrets
To gain access to tax secrecy, you must send a request. Some conditions must also be met. The request is carried out on letterhead indicating the necessary details, since this is an official letter. You can send it by e-mail, courier or Russian Post.
The letter must necessarily contain the signature of the organization’s management. Electronic documentation is certified by EDS. The request must contain a reference to a regulatory act or other document that confirms the right to transfer confidential data. It is necessary to identify the purpose of obtaining information indicating certain documents, for example, court orders.
If at the request at least one condition is not met, there may be a refusal to provide data. The answer comes in paper or electronic form, it all depends on the technical capabilities.
Who can make inquiries?
State bodies and their employees have such a right. This is usually required in court cases, inspections, investigative measures. Counterparties are interested in the data from the tax - suppliers, buyers, guarantors. It is possible to request the following information:
- Personal data.
- Material condition.
- Trade secret - marketing research, technology, development.
- Bank secrecy.
Often requested charter, constituent documentation, licenses to perform work and other permits. The purpose of obtaining data is to control the reliability of the partner before the transaction. Sometimes the law provides for the exchange of documents of this kind before signing the contract, for example, when organizing auctions, tenders, tenders.
In other situations, obtaining information may be a confirmation of prudence in determining, for example, the supplier. In the absence of caution, there may be a refusal to provide a credit for VAT and non-recognition of expenses if the counterparty is dishonest. But the taxpayer may refuse such a request. Then you need to send to the tax request for the issuance of data that do not fall under the secret.
You can request:
- accounting and tax records;
- financial statements.
Counterparties have the right to study financial statements for the last year. The data from the balance sheet will be of interest to suppliers, buyers, investors, credit organizations, guarantors. Accounting information is public and may be publicly available.
Another situation is with tax accounting information, since it is considered a tax secret. This is enshrined in article 84 (paragraph 9) and 102 of the Tax Code. Government agencies and extrabudgetary funds do not have the right to disclose such data, unless the organization permits it. By law, it is forbidden to transfer data to interested parties. If any information threatens the public interest, then it can not be attributed to trade secrets.