MOSCOW — Data on tax payments of Russia’s individuals and legal entities could be made available to one more state institution. Last week, members of the federation council upper chamber of Russian parliament came up with a proposal to allow the audit chamber access to tax data. The house backed the initiative.

Sergei Ivanov, senior deputy chairman of the federation council commission for cooperation with the audit chamber, told reporters that the commission had supported the necessary amendments to Article 102 of the Russian Tax Code.

Under Article 13 of the law on the audit chamber of Russia, the chamber was entitled to request information necessary for its functioning, Ivanov noted. Yet, he said, a loophole in the tax code prevented state auditors and financial regulators from fulfilling their functions in full. Federal and municipal auditors needed access to information on tax payments to perform their auditing and regulatory functions, he stressed.

Proposals to expand the powers of the audit chamber, including in respect of information access, come regularly to the state duma, with the chamber showing particular interest in access to tax data, the Vremya Novostei newspaper reports. Three years ago, the auditing body tried to push through the federation council amendments that would provide it access to state classified information and private data, including on bank operations and tax payments. But the upper chamber didn’t back the bill.

Members of the chamber criticized the proposed amendments saying that giving the audit chamber access to classified data could lead to leaks of such information, and it might end up in the hands of criminals.

The audit chamber monitors financial operations of all state institutions and bodies of self-governance. It also controls payments to the budget, allocations from the budget and use of budget funds by banks, insurance companies, non-governmental organizations and commercial companies.