Russian Audit Chamber Seeks Access To Tax Data

by Tatiana Smolenskaya, Tax-News.com, Moscow

02 August 2005

The Federation Council, upper chamber of the Russian parliament, has proposed new legislation allowing the government spending watchdog, the audit chamber to have access to the tax data of individuals and legal entities.

According to Sergei Ivanov, senior deputy chairman of the Federation Council commission for cooperation with the audit chamber, Article 13 of the law on the audit chamber of Russia stipulates that the body is entitled to request any information necessary for its funding, but that a legal loophole prevented this.

Ivanov told reporters that federal and municipal auditors needed access to information on tax payments to perform their auditing and regulatory functions. He added that the commission had supported the necessary amendments to Article 102 of the Russian Tax Code.

A similar proposal was pushed by the audit chamber three years ago, but the upper chamber rejected the move.

As the government's spending watchdog, the audit chamber's role is to monitor the financial operations of all state institutions and self-governing bodies. The chamber also controls payments to and from the budget, and use of budget funds by banks, insurance companies, non-governmental organizations and commercial companies.

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