The International Tax Compliance (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2017/598, amend the 2015 regulations to update the position on the UK’s international exchange arrangements, address gaps in the earlier provisions and clarify the application of penalties. The new regulations:
omit specific references to the OECD’s multilateral competent authority agreement, to reflect the fact that obligations for automatic exchange of financial account information arise principally under the DAC, CRS and FATCA;
incorporate agreements made since 2015 with Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and Switzerland;
allow reporting of certain insurance contracts which can be treated as non-reportable under the CRS but are reportable under the DAC, in order to align the DAC and CRS reporting requirements;
clarify that tax residence information must be retained for all account holders, not just reportable accounts;
align the retention period for tax residence information with the CRS requirement of five years from the date the information is last relied upon to support a decision not to report a particular account to HMRC, rather than six years from obtaining it;
align due diligence requirements with the CRS and DAC;
clarify that all pre-existing reportable accounts must be included in returns to HMRC, even where they are closed (for FATCA purposes, closed reportable pre-existing accounts identified during 2016 must be reported to HMRC by 31 May 2017); and
clarify the liability of partners and trustees to penalties for failure to comply with the 2015 regulations.
The amending regulations come into force on 17 May 2017.
The International Tax Compliance (Amendment) Regulations, SI 2017/598, amend the 2015 regulations to update the position on the UK’s international exchange arrangements, address gaps in the earlier provisions and clarify the application of penalties. The new regulations:
omit specific references to the OECD’s multilateral competent authority agreement, to reflect the fact that obligations for automatic exchange of financial account information arise principally under the DAC, CRS and FATCA;
incorporate agreements made since 2015 with Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and Switzerland;
allow reporting of certain insurance contracts which can be treated as non-reportable under the CRS but are reportable under the DAC, in order to align the DAC and CRS reporting requirements;
clarify that tax residence information must be retained for all account holders, not just reportable accounts;
align the retention period for tax residence information with the CRS requirement of five years from the date the information is last relied upon to support a decision not to report a particular account to HMRC, rather than six years from obtaining it;
align due diligence requirements with the CRS and DAC;
clarify that all pre-existing reportable accounts must be included in returns to HMRC, even where they are closed (for FATCA purposes, closed reportable pre-existing accounts identified during 2016 must be reported to HMRC by 31 May 2017); and
clarify the liability of partners and trustees to penalties for failure to comply with the 2015 regulations.
The amending regulations come into force on 17 May 2017.
