Media Outlets Are Not on the List of Entities that Have Access to the Information on the People Who Have Submitted Declarations under the Law on ‘Tax Amnesty’

Information on persons who will submit declarations according to the Law on Voluntary Compliance and Tax Incentives (known as ‘Tax Amnesty Law’) will be presented only at the request of National Integrity Authority (NIA), Office for Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering (OPFML) and holders of declarations themselves.

Thus, according to the new law, media will not be able anymore to find out information about taxpayers in question, as currently provided for in the Tax Code. According to lawyer Tatiana Puiu expert in mass-media law, this provision of the new law contradicts the rights of the press stipulated in the tax law, thereby limiting the rights of journalists to access information.

Voluntary declaration of goods began at the date of this law enactment and will end on 1 February 2019. According to the document, the information related to law enforcement – i.e. the identity of persons who submitted declarations as prescribed by this law – will be presented only at the request of NIA, OPFML and the subject of voluntary compliance.

Restricted access, contrary to the Tax Code
Lawyer Tatiana Puiu believes that in this way the access to information of public interest about taxpayers of this category was intentionally restricted for media. The Tax Code stipulates explicitly that media has the right to obtain from tax authorities the information about amounts paid to the national public budget and/or tax violations, if this is not to the detriment of the legal interests of law enforcement or judicial authorities. This provision was abolished for subjects of voluntary compliance, that decreasing the number of institutions that may receive such information.
‘It is a barrier to journalists’ work. You will request information, but they will say that you aren’t regulated by the Law, because the subjects belong to one of these two (categories). But it is nonsense, because the Fiscal Code contradicts this legal provision. The legislator should have, then, removed this provision and say that the media no longer has access to information about tax violations and about certain taxpayers. Everyone should have been excluded, not only the subjects of voluntary compliance’, explains Tatiana Puiu.
The lawyer emphasizes that people who make voluntary declarations will literally remain unknown to the society and the media. In her opinion, such provisions violate the journalists’ right of access to information.

According to Tatiana Puiu, these provisions of the voluntary compliance law are in contradiction with the constitutional norm.
She is also skeptical of the legislator’s intention to indicate public officials as persons who may not benefit from the provisions of this law. As an argument, Tatiana Puiu underlines that officials tend to register their assets on the name of their relatives.
Asked to comment these provisions, economic journalist Ion Preaşca believes that although there are signs that journalists’ rights are violated, such a law is justified. ‘Yes, it seems that the right of the press is violated, but this is a complex area all around the world. Try to get such information in Switzerland, for example. Not much data is published there. You have to pay in order to get access to such data’, said Preașca.
The journalist also says that the hurry with which this law was passed generates many doubts, but in his opinion, one must not forget that some businesspeople want to be protected because they can become potential victims of revenge. ‘Unless they are protected, they will not declare all their wealth’, underscored Preașca.

Who may not benefit from the voluntary compliance law

The Law on Voluntary Compliance and Tax Incentives was adopted on 27 July 2018 and was published in the Official Gazette on 17 August, when it entered into force. Also known as the ‘Tax Amnesty Law’, it allows declaring the assets and funds that have not been declared and taxed previously, so that they can be legalized.
This law does not cover the persons who have occupied public positions, such as president, prime minister, minister, judge, prosecutor and others, from 1 January 2009 until the law’s enactment date. Also, this law does not cover the persons who have been convicted of crimes committed in the activity of Investprivatbank,  Banca Socială, Banca de Economii, Unibank or Universalbank, as well as those who are suspected or accused of criminal offenses related to the activity of these banks.