Final report, Public access and secrecy in tax administration

1. The purpose of the project and any changes in the purpose during the project period

The purpose of the project was in the project plan given as to analyze and critically review legislation as well as legal interpretation and application in the field of public access and tax secrecy in the tax administration in relation to the interests motivating public access and secrecy. The purpose of the project has not changed during the project.

2. The three most important results from the project

One important result from this project is that we have learnt that the provisions regulating public access and tax secrecy differ a lot in different jurisdictions over the world. Cultural and societal factors play an important role for a country's choice of level of secrecy or transparency in the tax administration. In countries where the crime rates for example regarding blackmailing and kidnapping are high public information regarding taxable income combined information on residence of the taxpayer causes a greater risk for the taxpayers than it does in countries where the crime rates are lower. In certain countries where personal integrity and privacy are considered as high values, one can often see a higher level of tax secrecy than in other countries. In countries where the question where you live is considered as a very personal question, it would be considered as odd if information considering your taxable income would be public.

Another important result of this research project, which is closely linked with the just mentioned result, is that it is difficult to find a balance of interest between public access to tax information and secrecy, which could set a general "best standard" or "best practices". One phenomenon that can be found in Swedish law and which we advocate is a so called "requirement of damage" (SW; skaderekvisit). This means that the starting point should always be that information is either secret of public. However, if the starting point is that tax information is secret the requirement of damage means that the information may be disclosed if the disclosure does not cause any risk of harm or damage for the tax payer. If the starting point is that tax information is public the requirement of damage means that the information may be secret if a disclosure would cause a risk of harm or damage for the tax payer. Depending on the character of the information it can in the process of legislation be decided whether the starting point should be secrecy or public access to information.

During the years that we have been working with this project we have seen a clear trend that international exchange of tax information between different countries has increased. The USA have developed their FATCA project, the previous tax havens have entered into a large number of TIEAs (tax information exchange agreements) and the European Union has passed on new legislation. A comprehensive inflow of information from other countries gives rise to new challenges regarding how such information should be handled and kept, in particular in cases where the level of tax secrecy is higher in the sending than in the receiving country.

3. New research issues that have been generated through the project

We have studied public access to tax information and tax secrecy and have thereby carried out a comparative study of 37 different jurisdictions. The research object generates new research questions in two different fields.

The first research field regards how the legislation on public access and secrecy is designed in other fields of law than tax law. The fundamental aims with secrecy (protection of privacy) and public access (transparency) apply on other areas of law. It would be interesting to study for example secrecy and public access in school law or in health care or in another field of law, and compare the results with our findings in this study in the field of tax law.

The other research field concerns international tax policy. In international tax research different lists of taxpayers' rights have been launched and discussed - charters of tax payers' fundamental rights. Tax secrecy is put forwards as such a fundamental right. As mentioned above, one of our conclusions is that the optimal balance between secrecy and public access to tax information in each country is closely linked with societal and cultural aspects. Hence, in our opinion, it is difficult, if possible at all, to set a general standard for tax secrecy as a taxpayers' right. It would be interesting to try our conclusions regarding tax secrecy against other taxpayers' rights. It is most likely possible to draft a charter of taxpayers' fundamental rights in order to guarantee a certain world-wide standard of legal certainty, but can it be more than just very basic one when societal and cultural differences in countries over the world are taken in consideration?

4. International connections of the project

The project has been a purely international project. As mentioned above, we have done a broad comparative study, which has been supplemented with a deep comparative study between Sweden and the USA. We have spread our research results internationally during the entire time period of the project. We arranged a large international conference 2012, have published internationally and presented our results in Sweden and Austria for an international audience.
5. Research communication measures outside the academic community
When we have presented our research orally, the audience has not only been an academic one. As an example it can be mentioned that Jeffrey Owens, previous Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA) of OECD was moderating parts of our international conference and was attending the entire conference. Furthermore, several representatives from the Swedish tax administration (Skatteverket) and Swedish courts listened when we arranged our final conference in Gävle in June 2015. Anna-Maria Hambre, who was one of our doctoral students in the project, participated in the popular science competition "Forskar Grand Prix" where she presented her research in the Concert Hall of Örebro for a broad audience. Anna-Maria Hambre took the second place in the competition.

6. The two most important publications from the project

Kristoffersson, Eleonor, Lang, Michael, Pistone, Pasquale, Schuch, Joseph, Staringer, Claus, Storck, Alfred (editors), Tax Secrecy and Tax Transparency: The Relevance of Confidentiality in Tax Law Part 1 and 2, Peter Lang Verlag, Wien 2013, 1 215 pages

Hambre, Anna-Maria, Tax confidentiality: a comparative study and impact assessment of global interest. (Doctoral dissertation). Örebro University 2015¸373 pages

7. The publication strategy of the project

We have published our research results mainly internationally in English, but also in Swedish when we have wanted to deal with Swedish law and present it for Swedish stakeholders. We have published articles, a monograph and a conference book in two volumes. We are still waiting for one doctoral dissertation to be published. The monograph is published in open access.

Publications

Grylin, Hanna, Fördjupad samverkan utifrån ett offentlighets- och sekretessperspektiv, Svensk skattetidning 2013 page. 598-610

Hambre, Anna-Maria, Tax confidentiality: a comparative study and impact assessment of global interest. (Doctoral dissertation). Örebro University 2015, 373 pages

Hambre, Anna-Maria, Kristoffersson, Eleonor, Offentlighet och sekretess på skatteområdet år 2015, Svensk skattetidning 2015 p. 550-569

Kristoffersson, Eleonor, Från fördjupad samverkan till fördjupad dialog. Konferens om Skatteverkets nya riktlinje i Gävle den 14 juni 2014, Skattenytt 2014 page. 953-961

Kristoffersson, Eleonor, Lang, Michael, Pistone, Pasquale, Schuch, Joseph, Staringer, Claus, Storck, Alfred (editors), Tax Secrecy and Tax Transparency: The Relevance of Confidentiality in Tax Law Part 1 and 2, Peter Lang Verlag, Wien 2013, 1215 pages. The general report (page 1-34) is written by Eleonor Kristoffersson and Pasquale Pistone, the Swedish national report (page 1079-1110) is written by Eleonor Kristoffersson, Annina H Persson, Joakim Nergelius, Fillippo Valguarnera, Anna-Maria Hambre and Ylva Larsson and the Israeli report (page 555-586) is written by Yinon Tzubery

Antagen för publicering

Hambre, Anna-Maria, Tax Confidentiality in Sweden and the United States – a Comparative Study, i International
Journal of Legal Information.

Väntar på peer review

Hambre, Anna-Maria, Tax Confidentiality. A Legislative Proposal, till World Tax Journal

Väntar på publicering

Tzubery, Yinon, Tax Secrecy and State Aid, Doctoral Dissertation, WU Wien