The Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) insisted in a statement released on Sunday, that the Income Tax Bill does not introduce articles that will infringe on individuals’ financial privacy. The statement came in a response to a question directed to the department.

“The bill maintains customer confidentiality and does not authorise the ISTD to access bank accounts or statements, and maintains the privacy to which customers are entitled, in accordance to Jordan’s Banking Law,” the statement read.

“Private banking information can only be accessed based on a court order in cases specified in the law,” the statement added, referring to Article 72 of the Bank Law which stipulates:

“A bank shall observe full confidentiality regarding all accounts, deposits, trusts, and safe-deposit boxes of its customers. It shall be prohibited from providing directly or indirectly any information thereon except upon a written consent of the owner of such account, deposit, trust or the safe deposit box, or an heir of his, upon a decision issued by a competent judicial authority in a current litigation, or due to one of the permissible situations pursuant to the provisions of this law. This prohibition shall remain in effect even if the relationship between the bank and the client has terminated for any reason whatsoever.”

The income tax bill was announced last week, introducing measures to curb tax evasion and increases the tax base by lowering the lower bracket from JD 12,000 to JD 8,000 for individuals.
According to the government, under the current law only 95 percent of Jordanians pay income tax and the bill is forecasted to bring that number to 90 percent, adding around JD 300 million to the treasury.

The bill has been met with criticism from the public and has been slammed by the Agricultural Engineers Association.The draft is can be found at the Legislation and Opinion Bureau where people can also leave their comments.

Check out how your income tax under the current law and the bill by using the following calculator.