Tax authorities start trawl of citizens bank accounts for tax evasion

Lithaunians with savings of over €5,000 in their account or with a turnover of more than €15,000 in a year will be targetted for examination by the State Tax Inspectorate. The STI move on gifts specifically applies to cash gifts which were used for example by a son or daughter to buy an apartment which if undeclared as gifts will attract a retrospective tax rate of 15%, reports Verslo Žinios.

Financial institutions will have to provide information to the State Tax Inspectorate about account balances each year on December 31, including the total amount of money moving through the account during the year and any debt obligations to a particular bank or credit union.

According to STI data, only 9% of the population went over the €15,000 threshold in 2014 and only 11% had more than €5000 deposited in commercial banks at the end of June in 2014.

Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius announced that the government had approved the move yesterday.

“The government has adopted a decision on how to implement what the parliament has established last year. Financial institutions will have to provide minimum information about people‘s and businesses‘ accounts to the State Tax Inspectorate (STI),” he said.

DELFI