Tax authorities to monitor Greeks’ bank accounts across the European Union

Greece’s tax authorities will soon be able to monitor all bank accounts that Greek taxpayers have within the European Union, according to a draft law currently being discussed by Parliament’s Financial Affairs Committee.

Finance Ministry officials are introducing the clauses on the automatic exchange of bank account information, which will effectively allow them direct access to all deposits of local taxpayers within the bloc, with the aim of combating cross-border fraud and tax evasion.

The European Commission has expanded the scope of automatic exchange of information, and member-states will not only have access to data regarding specific income and capital categories (such as incomes from salaried employment and pensions, incomes from property rental etc), but will also be able to exchange information concerning account balances (for tax purposes) as of 2016.

Data exchange further includes the name, addresses, tax registration number and birthplace of each account holder (in case of a person, as opposed to a company controlling the account), account numbers and balances, as well as interest, dividends and revenues from the sale of various financial assets.