Tax Advisors: Blurred Identity, Great Expectations

Odnos između sudionika poreznoga sustava vrlo je aktualnatema. Zadnjih desetak godina obilježila je teorija o suradnji uudovoljavanju poreznim obvezama. Naznačena je teorija,između ostalog, potaknula "preispitivanje" uloge poreznihsavjetnika. Na tom tragu sve važnije pitanje postaje odnosizmeđu poreznih tijela i poreznih savjetnika. Rad je podijeljen udva glavna dijela. Tema prvoga dijela jest "opća" slika i tendencijeu svezi s poreznosavjetničkom djelatnošću. U drugom dijelurada iznose se rezultati empirijskog istraživanja provedenog uzajednici poreznih savjetnika u Hrvatskoj. Cilj je rada istražitikako porezni savjetnici u Hrvatskoj shvaćaju svoju ulogu i odnoss poreznim tijelima. Istraživanje je provedeno metodomupitnika; upozorilo je na autoritaran tip odnosa izmeđusudionika poreznoga sustava i "periferan" položaj poreznosavjetničkeprofesije u Hrvatskoj. Zaključno, oblikovane supreporuke i smjerovi normativnih promjena i poreznih politika.A high degree of engagement between tax authorities andtaxpayers is nothing new in tax law but it is an approach thatgained in importance towards the end of the 20th century.The last ten years were characterised by co-operative compliancetheory. The mentioned theory, among other things,has provoked a process of reviewing the tax advisors\u27 role.Therefore, the relationship between tax authorities and taxadvisors has an increasing importance. The article consists oftwo main thematic parts. The first part introduces a "generalstate" and tendencies in the tax advising profession. In thesecond part, the results of empirical research conductedamong tax advisors in Croatia are presented. The aim of theresearch is to examine how tax advisors in Croatia perceivetheir role and their relationship with tax authorities as well asto gain useful insight which would contribute to a betterunderstanding of relationships between the participants inthe tax-law relationship. The method used for data collectionwas interview. Results of the research point to severalconclusions. Firstly, most tax advisors believe that the taxauthorities are distrustful toward tax advisors and are of theopinion that tax advisors mostly help taxpayers to evade theirtax obligations. With regard to the attitude of the taxauthorities towards taxpayers, they point out that it is anauthoritarian relationship dominated by the "cop and robber"approach. Also, most advisors are of the opinion that theirprofession lacks a distinctive identity. To conclude, the articleprovides some recommendations and possible legal and taxpolicy changes