Parliament has obliged banks to close accounts of customers whose identities are not clearly stated in the bank documents, a move seen as another step toward conforming to anti-money laundering norms and fighting tax evasion.
As per an amendment to the 2020-21 budget bill, all banks and credit institutions are obliged to block accounts that lack a valid electronic banking ID number (known by its Persian acronym Shahab) by June 21.
Banks are banned from offering services or paying interest on deposits owned by anonymous account holders, IRNA reported.
In addition, the Central Bank of Iran is obliged to provide grounds allowing customers to provide banks with complete information about their identity.
In the same vein, the CBI has been required to report data about bank transactions of taxpayers to the Iranian National Tax Administration on a quarterly basis, according to another amendment to the budget.
INTA has announced a similar mandate for the CBI in the ongoing fiscal year that ends on March 19, urging the regulator to report taxpayers’ transactions on a monthly basis.
The move seeks to promote transparency in the lethargic banking industry, control money laundering and curb tax evasion.
Hadi Khani, an INTA official, said earlier that tax collectors focus on three categories of bank transactions.
First are those who do not cooperate with the tax authority and refuse to play by the rules.
The second group includes those whose misdeeds and violation of rules are verifiable in commercial records, such as bank accounts, commercial cards and fake and forged invoices.
Finally, INTA is keen on digging deeper into bank transactions of those who are known to be involved in or under suspicion of corruption and unlawful financial deeds.
