Legal Research On Taxpayers' Data Protection In Exchange Of Tax Information

Even though the exchange of tax information system effectively combats taxpayers' international tax evasion behavior,a large amount of taxpayers' information are collected,stored,exchanged and used at the same time in this process,including many sensitive and important information involving taxpayers' personal privacy.Whether and how to protect taxpayer information in the process is a legal issue which worth to be researched.This article will discuss from the following four parts:The first chapter discusses the development of the tax information exchange and its influence on the information rights of taxpayers.The development of the tax information exchange further intensifies the conflict between the national tax information management right and taxpayers' data rights and interests.It is necessary and possible to coordinate this conflict.The second chapter analyzes the current situation of the international legal system on taxpayer data protection in the process of exchange of tax information.There is no unified tax convention at the international level,however,tax information protection clauses in bilateral and multilateral tax agreements related to exchange tax information exist.The content of protection includes,on the one hand,keeping tax information confidential;On the other hand,the Contracting Parties may have a duty of notification to the taxpayer.The third chapter emphasizes that the domestic legal system plays an important role in the protection of taxpayer information in tax informationexchange.This chapter takes the domestic legislation of the United States,Germany and China as an example to discuss the differences in the domestic legal systems of taxpayers' information protection in the exchange of tax information.The fourth chapter discusses the problem of taxpayer data protection in tax information exchange in Chinese tax law.Generally speaking,the level of taxpayers data protection in China is relatively low.When the tax-related information is transmitted to China from countries with medium or high level of taxpayers data protection,China is likely to face the "information protection barrier" set up by such countries.Therefore,this chapter finally claims that more specific and special regulations concerning taxpayer idata protection in the process of tax information exchange is needed.