Here comes the big brother in bank accounts, lockers, e-wallets

AADE throws another weapon into the battle against tax evasion. This is an Automated Asset Addition Control system through which the tax mechanism will have direct access and a complete picture of bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, information on grants, investments and even the electronic wallets of taxpayers that are checked for “black money”.

The new system is in pilot mode and has started to receive information from systemic banks and once the tests between AADE and the Hellenic Union of Banks and Credit Institutions are completed, it will be fully implemented.

Through the “Bank Account Nexus Crosscheck APPLICATION” – BANCAPP” tax auditors will “enter” the bank accounts, lockers and electronic wallets and receive detailed data and information about the auditees.

Specifically, once an income and asset audit order has been issued for a taxpayer, a request to lift bank secrecy will be sent automatically, without human intervention. Within two days, AADE will have the relevant answers for the bank accounts and assets of the last five years.

With the new automated system, the determination of taxable material is now an easy task. The data received by the tax auditors will be processed and cross-checked with the tax returns in order to establish whether the amount of movable property and living expenses are justified by the incomes shown to the Tax Office by the taxpayers who are being audited for illegal increase of property. If they are not covered, it will be considered an unjustified increase in property and the excess amount will be taxed at a rate of 33%.

How will the checks be done?

In order to remove bank secrecy, through the new system, it is necessary to know and fill in the TIN of the natural or legal person or legal entity for which the bank secrecy is being lifted, while in order to submit a request for lifting, all the necessary approval procedures must have been preceded by lifting of bank secrecy provided for audit services.

The process

– With the issuance of a control order, the request is automatically forwarded by AADE through the electronic interconnection and communication hub to credit institutions and all liable persons.

– They are obliged to respond and send the files within two working days, with the exception of cases where the request occupies a controlled period of more than five years, in which case the files will also be sent within five working days.

– The communication of requests between AADE and the liable persons will be carried out through the infrastructure of “Teiresias”. The information exchanged through the transmission channels of “Teiresias S.A.” concerns the data of the audited.

– To ensure the confidentiality of the process, all tax and/or financial data exchanged is encrypted.

The data

In the new system, credit and financial institutions, including branches of foreign credit institutions, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, which are active in Greek territory, with or without a physical establishment, and are kept in the Bank’s Register, will have to transmit data of Greece.

The data that will be sent by banking and financial institutions concern:

– First demand and term deposits

– Grants

– Investment accounts with all kinds of portfolios of investment products and securities (mutual funds, bonds, shares, bank premiums, derivatives, Repos, etc.)

– Credit cards

– ATMs

– Payment Accounts

– Prepaid Cards

– Electronic wallets.

Source: ot.gr