Austria keeps persisting in the refusal to meet the demand of the European Commission to provide free access to information about incomes of foreign depositors. Federal Minister of Finance of the Republic of Austria, Maria Fekter, said she will fight “like a lion” to defend the country's banking secrecy.
On April 7, Vienna announced it readiness to implement an EU reform aimed at charging an interest from deposits. It requires disclosing details of deposits to foreign tax authorities. However, the reform is still being blocked.
On April 8, the European Commissioner for Taxation, Algirdas Semeta, said, “it would appear very difficult for (Austria) to maintain its position ... when all member states are ready” to agree to swap personal data on savers in the banks.
In an interview with Österreich, Maria Fekter said Austria defies the EU’s urges to ensure automatic exchange of information on EU depositors. She believes it will only result in meaningless mountains of data accumulated. “This is the right way to do this, and the model we have devised is remarkably efficient”, Ms Fekter noted.
It should be reminded that Austria levies a tax on dividends of foreign depositors and transfers a part of the charged amount to their countries.
