The Government has decided to re-submit the diploma that allows the Tax Authority to access citizens' private bank accounts which have a balance of €50,000 or more. The Council of Ministers again approved the law that was vetoed by the president in September 2016.
This opens the way for the Tax Authority to have automatic access to the balances of accounts held by residents and not resident in Portugal’s banks, when deposits exceed €50,000. This will start in 2019.
The government is referring the diploma back to MPs to vote on, but this should go through with ease. The president already has said he has no objection this time around.
When previously, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the proposed law, he justified his position by saying that letting the tax man know this information, without any evidence of a fiscal crime, was not reasonable.
The change of direction, according to the president, is that the financial system now is out of its 'sensitive phase' and had he passed the law when first presented for signature, the measure in question could have had "a negative impact on the confidence of depositors, savers and investors."
Finance Minister, Mario Centeno, said that the automatic exchange of information that banks now will be sending to the Treasury, only will show the balance of the accounts, not credit and debit information.
This €50,000+ report will be submitted once a year and is to include joint accounts.
There already exists an automatic exchange of information between banks and tax authorities overseas on the accounts of non-residents. Portuguese nationals with accounts abroad already are being snooped on.
