Right of privacy in Turkish tax law

In the taxation relationship in which the government is situated in an outstanding position, the duties of the taxpayers outweigh; however, some rights are also granted to them against the administration. This is because it is impossible to think that the taxpayers remain completely unprotected against the interventions made by the government using its taxation authority. One of the taxpayer rights appearing for this purpose is the right of privacy. As in almost all the countries, the administration has the authority to collect almost unlimited information about the taxpayers in Turkey. The only regulation balancing this authority of the administration and protecting the taxpayer is the tax privacy, which constitutes a "right" for the taxpayers and a "prohibition" for the obligated ones. This right reassures taxpayers of not sharing their confidential information in tax administration with others and not using this information. The reason is that many material and nonmaterial interests of the taxpayers are protected by keeping this information confidential. Although the right of tax privacy aims fundamentally to protect the privacy area of the person, it also contributes to the reliability of the tax administration. In recent years, the developments in information technologies and the protection of personal data have also increased the importance of privacy in the field of taxation as in every field. The confidentiality obligation arising from the right of tax privacy does not originate from an agreement, but from the law. In Turkish tax law, primary legal regulations looking after the privacy right of the taxpayers are provisions of the "tax privacy" as specified in Article 5 of the Tax Procedure Law and the "disclosure of secret" in Article 107 of the Law on the Procedure for the Collection of Public Receivables. The scope of the right of privacy and the consequences related to the violation of this right are crucial in terms of the personality values that are protected by this right. The awareness of the taxpayers regarding the right of tax privacy and the respectful approach of the administration against this right are factors that will positively affect the tax system. KEYWORDS: Right, Tax privacy, Taxpayer rights, Right of Privacy, Violation of tax privacy