Public’s Banking Data Provided to Government
» To Collect VAT
For the first time in Iran, information pertaining to the public’s banking accounts will be provided to other government agencies, such as the organization responsible for collecting national taxes.
Farda news site posted a story titled, “Public’s Banking Accounts Will be Made Available”, through which it quoted Hamid Pour-Mohammadi, the ministry of economy deputy in charge of banking, insurance and government companies affairs, as saying that from now on in addition to banks, other state agencies such as the tax collection agency too could have access to information pertaining to the public’s bank accounts.
This is an unprecedented measure in Iran. Until now the public’s banking data was protected to be private and confidential. ILNA labor news agency on September 14, 2008 published the copy of a government circular and wrote that , “In an effort to collect VAT, banks would provide information pertaining to their customers’ accounts to the state tax collection agency.”
This news report, which was only hours later removed from ILNA’s website following intense pressures exerted by security agencies of the state, read, “In an unlawful and unexpected measure the state Tax Collection Agency has obliged banks to provide it with information pertaining to its customers’ banking accounts as a step to collect VAT from them. Accordingly, the tax agency in coordination wit the minister of economy has issued a directive which obliges banks to provide information pertaining to the accounts of its customers to it.” ILNA further referenced the specific circular that was sent out in this regard.
But the removal of the news event from ILNA’s website did not obviously lead to the end of the affair. Three days later, Hamid Reza Pour-Mohammadi was forced to assure bank customers through an interview with Fars news agency that “receiving banking information from banks was banned and no such request had been made.” He added, “Furthermore, according to tax laws regarding VAT banking operations were excluded from the law.” At the same time responding to a question by a reporter whether the government tax agency had issued a request to obtain banking information from banks, the director of the Tax Collection Agency said, “This organization has not made any requests from banks asking for banking information in line with the tax regulations pertaining to VAT.”
At the same time, ILNA published a conversation it had with the parliamentary deputy of Iran’s Central Bank and quoted him as saying, “Till now we have not provided banking information of bank customers to any agency.”
In speaking with ILNA labor news agency Heydar Mostakhdemin Hosseini said, “Banking laws provide that information pertaining to banking accounts are confidential and that the only way such information may be accessible is through a judgment of a judge or the prosecutor general.”
But despite these statements, it appears that in Ahmadinejad’s administration, the public’s banking information is not destined to be treated as confidential.