BANK ACCOUNTS

[tizlit]

Do the Finnish authorities have the right to check any bank accounts abroad ? Just a matter of interest.

[Tiwaz]

Define "Check"...

They might send request for information to country where the account is for information, but then it would be laws of that country which would say if they get any information.

If Finnish officials require some information about you, I would presume they would expect you to provide evidence instead of going out trying to dig the information themselves.

[mr.carver]

That is an odd interest, but the answer would be no, technically speaking.

Can they and will they? Well, that depends.
To answer this question, I feel it is important you have an idea of how banks in the modern world work.

For the most part, when a country sets up banks, it works a little like this.
Country sets up a Central Bank, Central bank backs and collects a percentage off deposits made to the smaller bank (the banks you bank at). The smaller banks are basically businesses, and they operate as such, using deposits you make to make money themselves.
Since the banks are businesses that happen to be backed (and checked on) by a government agency, in a way that government agency could be said to know what is going on with your bank account already.
Enter consumer rights laws.
Depending on where you live, and where the bank is, there will be varying consumer rights laws in place that dictate what the banks can and cannot tell the government about their clients. There will also be laws in place that dictate what the banks have to tell and what they don't have to tell but could if they wanted.

So let's take Bank of Sorrow in the country of Westland. You have an account there.
The country of Eastland wants to know how much money you have in the Bank of Sorrow.
The country of Westland has no laws in place that says banks must give information to foreign government agencies inquiring on clients. But they also don't have any laws in place saying they can't give the information either.
So now the Bank of Sorrow has a choice. Comply with Eastland or tell them to bugger off.

Now lets pretend Westland was really the USA. Land of the free, home of the brave, all that jazz.
The USA has in place something we call the Consumer Financial Rights.
In those rights it is explicitly stated that a consumers (your) finanical information may not be shared with a government agency without your explicit permission, short of a subpoena or search warrant.

So if Finland in this case asked a bank in the USA to give them financial information regarding your accounts, the bank, by law, would be required to tell them, no.
Unless of course Finland gets law enforcement involved. And then they would have to have good reason to do so, such as suspecting you of breaking US or International laws.

[Pursuivant]

Its easy, they slam you with 100 000 extra tax and then you need to prove you got no money

[Mook]

There's a banking agreement in the EU that means banks must provide information on "not resident" customers to the countries in which they live. Reading the stuff, it sounds like the report is given automatically rather than having to be asked for

[tizlit]

Thanks your info, all! Interesting reading. MOOK, where did you read this stuff you write about ? Can you provide more accurate info?

[Rosamunda]

Are you asking about bank accounts or about the fiscal authorities?

Within the EU there is an increasing amount of cooperation between the tax authorities to identify VAT fraud, tax evasion and other dodgy practices (eg employers not complying with PAYE and minimum wage regulations). It is my understanding that the banks comply with requests for information by the tax authorities.

As an example, when we sold our house in France and transfered the money to FInland, the tax authorities in Finland were notified of the transaction. I don't know how (French bank? Finnish bank? French tax authorities? French notary?), but they knew we had received funds from France from the proceeds of the sale of our house. They wrote to us and asked us to call them. We explained what we had done and they were satisfied with our statement and did not even ask for any documentation.

[Mook]

Thanks your info, all! Interesting reading. MOOK, where did you read this stuff you write about ? Can you provide more accurate info?

My bank sent me a letter, saying that frm a certain date that they had to inform blah blah blab.

Have a look at the tax section in this:

http://www.halifax-international.com/do ... latory.pdf