VERGİ (MÜKELLEF) MAHREMİYETİ VE İHLALİ SUÇU (VUK md. 5, 362)

Abstract

Taxation, as a rule, requires interference with the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. It is a requirement of being a state of law that individuals should have certain assurances and protection measures against the state, which has the monopoly of taxation and collection within the framework of laws. The correct, effective and efficient conclusion of the taxation process depends on accessing and recording the information and documents affecting this process. This is tried to be achieved within the tax legislation framework, either by the taxpayers fulfilling their formal and material duties or by the audits carried out by the tax administration. The use and disclosure of certain personal and commercial information, accessed and considered confidential in terms of interests for purposes other than taxation, may cause material or moral damages for the owners and cause the diminish in trust the tax administration, also public order to deteriorate. Violation of tax privacy, which is considered among the taxpayers' rights and constitutes a shield of protection for those concerned, is regulated as a crime in the Tax Procedure Law (TPL art. 362), and its sanction is left to the Turkish Criminal Law (TCL art. 239). Our study is to determine and evaluate the scope of tax privacy, those who have to comply with this obligation, the forms of violation, the elements of this crime and its special appearance within the framework of the general theory of crime since it constitutes a crime, by considering it within the scope of the relevant law provisions and doctrine.