The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has restored the National Revenue Agency’s (NAP) access to automatic international data exchange with over 110 jurisdictions, including offshore zones. This occurred after a series of very serious and in-depth checks and operational meetings from August 2019 to April 2023. In a report prepared after the last audit, the Global Forum’s examiners gave a high rating to the revenue agency’s work and noted its significant progress in enhancing network and information security and improving processes.
The Global Forum comprises 168 jurisdictions, including several offshore, which exchange tax and financial information among themselves. Bulgaria has been a member of the Global Forum since 2015 and can exchange information on request with 147 jurisdictions, and following the restoration of automatic exchange, it can potentially receive information from over 110 jurisdictions, NAP reminds. After unauthorized access to the revenue agency’s data, the incoming automatic exchange was stopped. Thus, NAP was only providing information to its international partners (EU and third countries) but was receiving data only from EU countries, excluding third countries, which includes offshore jurisdictions.
‘In the relatively short period from 2019 to now, NAP managed to build an entirely new infrastructure, a new architecture and design, to create special zones for working with information from the automatic exchange, to which only certain employees have access. Internal procedures and rules for network and information security in the revenue agency were updated, including a policy for action in cybersecurity incidents. All employees underwent special training on the topic, and a new risk register for information security was created. NAP’s success is due to hard work, teamwork, exceptional understanding of the importance of enhancing information security, improving processes, and continuous development and improvement of systems and electronic services offered by NAP. I thank all colleagues for their dedication, speed, precision, and well-done work,’ stated the Executive Director of NAP, Rumen Spetsov.
Source: National Revenue Agency (NAP)
