Russian Taxman Wants Access To Banking Information

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Jul 13, 2018

Privacy under attack again

If federal Russian lawmakers have their way, banks across the country will be required to report all local ATM cash withdrawals using foreign credit or debit cards, and virtually all information held by the banks regarding account holders could be demanded by the federal tax authorities.

That’s the gist of new financial developments in the country reported by the daily national newspaper Kommersant, revealing that lawmakers are working on legislative amendments that would compel banks to report on the use of foreign credit or debit cards at ATMs.

The taxman has reportedly sought the approval of the federal Ministry of Finance for authority to demand from banks details of their clients and their accounts, claiming that this is necessary for the identification and prosecution of illegal business activities – a catch-all phrase if ever there was one. The Ministry is apparently considering the proposal.

This sort of information can only be demanded at present where the tax authority can show that there are irregularities in an individual or company’s tax declarations, and the information requested must be relevant to that specific irregularity.

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.


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