The Privacy Right of Legal Person Taxpayer

Abstract

Since tax authorities have very wide powers within the scope of legislation regarding tax inspections, tax privacy for a legal person is as important as for a natural person. It is a fact that legal persons and natural persons are not protected equally in respect of personal data protection. Since a legal person has to comply with extensive public disclosure, limited protection for a legal person is understandable. However, it could not be possible to claim that a legal person is out of the application of personal data protection law. This study is aimed to underline the importance of the protection of the privacy right of legal person taxpayers despite the public disclosure. However, legal disclosure of banking secrecy for the exchange of tax information is out of the scope of this study. Examining the decisions of the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, we try to determine in which subject and from what perspective the privacy right of legal person taxpayer is protected. Contrary to the belief that a legal person taxpayer has no sensitive information like the natural taxpayer, specifically, the protection of commercial secrets is very important and vital for them. Also, in many decisions rendered by the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, it is admitted that a legal person has a right to privacy.

Since tax authorities have very wide powers within the scope of legislation regarding tax inspections, tax privacy for a legal person is as important as for a natural person. It is a fact that legal persons and natural persons are not protected equally in respect of personal data protection. Since a legal person has to comply with extensive public disclosure, limited protection for a legal person is understandable. However, it could not be possible to claim that a legal person is out of the application of personal data protection law. This study is aimed to underline the importance of the protection of the privacy right of legal person taxpayers despite the public disclosure. However, legal disclosure of banking secrecy for the exchange of tax information is out of the scope of this study. Examining the decisions of the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, we try to determine in which subject and from what perspective the privacy right of legal person taxpayer is protected. Contrary to the belief that a legal person taxpayer has no sensitive information like the natural taxpayer, specifically, the protection of commercial secrets is very important and vital for them. Also, in many decisions rendered by the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, it is admitted that a legal person has a right to privacy.