The European Tax Adviser Federation (ETAF) has called for the professional secrecy of tax advisers to be explicitly enshrined in European law, in a position paper published on Thursday 23 October.
It considers “professional secrecy (...) a cornerstone of the trust between clients and their advisers”. It wants a clear and coherent definition that recognises their equal standing with lawyers. The federation has called for harmonised application of professional secrecy rules in all Member States, notably through interpretative guidance from the European Commission.
It also urged the European institutions and Member States to ensure proportionality and safeguards in the new EU reporting obligations, by limiting to a minimum and legally justifying any exceptions to professional secrecy. Finally, the ETAF would like the major role played by regulated tax advisers in supporting tax compliance and ensuring effective tax administration in the EU to be acknowledged.
In light of recent legislative and regulatory developments, ETAF warns against the risk of distortions of competition between professions performing comparable functions.
Read the position paper: https://aeur.eu/f/j4p (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)