Commercial banks in Serbia to supply customer data to US tax authorities

Commercial banks in Serbia will shortly start sending client account data to the US tax authorities, the Serbian newswire, Tanjug, reported Aug. 11.

 “This will soon become an obligation stemming from an international agreement expected to be adopted soon,” the National Bank of Serbia said in a press release, as cited by the newswire. “Serbia-based commercial banks have already started requesting permissions from their clients to allow their account information to be provided to the US tax authorities.”

 The announcement of the National Bank of Serbia was met with criticism from Serbian Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic, who requested a special monitoring procedure of this new banking practice to be put in place. According to Sabic, it is possible that banks are violating law by requiring a client’s permission to be issued in order to set up a bank account.

 “The requirements, if existing, are not in the commissioner’s jurisdiction as such, but they constitute a violation of the law that the National Bank of Serbia should take into consideration,” Sabic said, as cited by Tanjug.

 According to the National Bank of Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Finance notified the bank on July 2 that a confirmation of Serbia’s intention to join the international agreement on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) has already been signed.

 “Part of the package is Serbia’s agreement to be listed amongst jurisdictions on the FACTA website, which was included in the ministry’s notification sent to the National Bank of Serbia,” the bank stated, as cited by the newswire. “The goal of the agreement is to establish an organized exchange of information in order to improve collection of the US taxes.”

 The National Bank of Serbia also added that it has not issued any recommendations to Serbian commercial banks as yet and that proper guidance will be provided in the implementation of the agreement once signed.

 Rodoljub Sabic, however, pointed out that any harmonization of Serbian regulations with those of other countries or international organizations requires an international agreement, which must be ratified by the parliament and later become the basis for the personal data processing in Serbia.

Photo courtesy of LukaP.