Insights
TAX & BUSINESS
Account Register Query and Account Inspection
The Budget Measures Act 2026, adopted by the National Council on 10 June 2026, enables the Office for Fraud Prevention to obtain information from the account register and to inspect the internal data of bank accounts.
The financial police, as an organ of the Office for Fraud Prevention, is responsible for investigating and identifying shell companies. In order to detect and prove suspicious money flows more quickly, it can now, within the framework of such investigations, obtain access to the account register and, under certain conditions, also to the internal account data (account inspection). By extending the access rights, it is intended to determine which account connections are used by individuals or companies and how financial interlinkages are structured. Until now, such insights were only permitted for the tax authority for tax‑law purposes.
Restrictions on access
To safeguard the legal protection of affected companies, restrictions are provided. Access to the internal account information (account inspection) is only possible if a concrete suspicion of a shell company already exists, the affected company has been informed of this suspicion and a request for the surrender of the bank documents has remained unsuccessful. In addition to strict organisational requirements, requests for account‑inspection information require approval by the Federal Fiscal Court.
The changes provided for by the Budget Measures Act 2026 take effect on the day following the official announcement, which should be 1 July 2026.
Restrictions on access
To safeguard the legal protection of affected companies, restrictions are provided. Access to the internal account information (account inspection) is only possible if a concrete suspicion of a shell company already exists, the affected company has been informed of this suspicion and a request for the surrender of the bank documents has remained unsuccessful. In addition to strict organisational requirements, requests for account‑inspection information require approval by the Federal Fiscal Court.
The changes provided for by the Budget Measures Act 2026 take effect on the day following the official announcement, which should be 1 July 2026.