The Bahamas Competent Authority posted the Updated CRS-AEOI Partner List Effective June 27, 2022. With the deletion of Costa Rica and the addition of Curacao, Ecuador, and Peru, the Bahamas’ Common Reporting Standard (CRS) exchange partner list now includes 67 jurisdictions. The Bahamas FATCA/CRS portal will open for FATCA and CRS registration and submissions on Monday, July 18, 2022 at 9 AM EDT. The portal will close on Friday, August 26, 2022 at 5PM EDT. Financial Instituti

Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) participating in FATCA through an IGA or as a Participating FFI are required to undertake annual FATCA reporting on certain U.S. Persons. The FFI documents U.S. Persons by obtaining a U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-9 or substitute Form W-9 from its customer. However, some U.S. Persons are exempt from being reported and may use the Form W-9 to document their exemption. Line 4 Line 4 of the Form W-9 is where a U.S. Person may li

The Bahamas Competent Authority announced the FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) portal will open for FATCA and CRS registration and submissions on Monday, July 18, 2022 at 9 AM EDT. The portal will close on Friday, August 26, 2022 at 5PM EDT. Financial Institutions (FIs) with FATCA and CRS reporting obligations that miss the August 26, 2022 portal deadline will need to contact the Bahamas Competent Authority at helpdesk@taxreporting.finance.gov.bs or information@taxr

On February 23, 2022, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) updated its IRAS FAQs on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Specifically, IRAS updated FAQ B.7 dealing with reporting tax identification numbers (TINs). The FAQ is: "How should a Reporting SGFI report TINs of Foreign Entity Account Holders (where Entity Account Holder is not a U.S. Person such as in the case of a Passive NFFE)? We have confirmed that the Entity Account Holder Type is either FA

On February 21, 2022, the British Virgin Islands International Tax Authority (BVI ITA) announced the BVI Financial Account Reporting System (BVIFARS) will be offline starting Monday, February 21, 2022 until further notice. The BVI ITA expects to provide an update regarding the portal during the week of February 21. The BVI ITA also provided a reminder regarding the mandatory inclusion of tax identification numbers (TINs) in FATCA reporting. FATCA TIN Reporting As part of a Fi

CRS Reportable Jurisdictions On January 31, 2022, the Cayman Islands published an updated list of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Reportable Jurisdictions. Jamaica, Kenya and Morocco have been added as CRS Reportable Jurisdictions for Y2021 reporting. Kuwait has been removed from the list of CRS Reportable Jurisdictions. Financial Institution Deregistration The functionality of the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation portal (DITC Portal) has increased

Guernsey Revenue Service published a bulletin with the Reportable Jurisdictions for the Y2021 and Y2022 reporting periods. The Y2022 list includes the jurisdiction in the above chart and the following jurisdictions: Jordan Moldova Montenegro Thailand Uganda Ukraine The deadline for submitting Y2021 CRS reporting in the Guernsey IGOR portal is June 30, 2022. For assistance, please contact me via my contact page or at elizabeth@elizabethmcmorrowlaw.com. #Guernsey #CRS #Reportin

The Bahamas Competent Authority announced the FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) portal is now open for FATCA and CRS registration and submissions. Additionally, Financial Institutions (FIs) are able to submit corrections to previous filings for non-U.S. tax identification numbers (TINs). To access the portal, click here. The portal will close on Friday, January 14, 2022 at 5 PM EST. After the portal closes, FIs with FATCA or CRS reporting obligations should contact th

The IRS announced the Public Key for FATCA filing will expire on December 3, 2021. For those financial institutions (FIs) who submit their FATCA reporting directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it is critical to determine if you have downloaded the IRS’ new public key and checked to see if your digital certificate is current. What Is IDES? Certain FIs transmit data directly to the IRS through the International Data Exchange Service (IDES). Depending on the amoun

The Bahamas Competent Authority posted the “Updated CRS-AEOI Partner List As At November 11, 2021.” With the addition of South Korea, the Bahamas’ Common Reporting Standard (CRS) exchange partner list now includes 65 jurisdictions. The Bahamas FATCA/CRS portal closed on August 27, 2021 at the conclusion of the FATCA/CRS reporting season. If a Financial Institution has questions regarding reporting, registration, or other portal related questions, it should contact the Bahamas

On September 13, 2021, the Guernsey Revenue Service (GRS) posted FATCA and CRS legislative and regulatory changes stemming from the July 15, 2021 approval of the Income Tax (Guernsey) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, (the Ordinance). Onsite Visits The Ordinance provides the legal basis for GRS to undertake onsite visits to review a financial institution’s (FI’s) FATCA and/or CRS compliance. If GRS does not obtain consent from the FI or provide at least seven days written notice t

The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) announced the due date to submit FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) reporting to the MRA has been extended from July 31, 2021, to August 16, 2021. To contact the MRA FATCA/CRS unit directly: +230 207 6000 or via email at fatcacrsunit@mra.mu. For assistance, please contact me via my contact page or at elizabeth@elizabethmcmorrowlaw.com. #Mauritius #FATCA #CRS #Reporting

On July 27, 2021, the Bahamas Competent Authority posted the “Updated CRS-AEOI Partner List As At July 26th 2021.” This Common Reporting Standard (CRS) exchange partner list includes 64 jurisdictions. The Bahamas FATCA/CRS portal opened for registration and reporting on Monday, July 19, 2021 and will close on Friday, August 27, 2021 at 5 PM EDT. As we have seen in past years, the Bahamas Competent Authority is prompt in closing its portal so ensure you complete your reporting

The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) recently issued two communiques regarding Common Reporting Standard (CRS) reporting errors and FATCA missing tax identification number (TIN) codes. As a reminder, CRS and FATCA reporting is due July 31, 2021. CRS Common Errors The MRA identified five common CRS reporting errors and reminded Financial Institutions (FIs) they may face penalties if they submit inaccurate CRS reports: Wrong Interpretation of Undocumented Accounts An account s

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) International Tax Authority (ITA) announced its Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and FATCA reporting deadline is now extended from May 31, 2021 to June 30, 2021. Previously, the ITA had announced scheduled interruptions during January and February 2021 to its BVI Financial Account Reporting system (BVIFARs) to make system changes to accommodate the CRS version 2.0 schema. The ITA took BVIFARs down again from March 10, 2021 through March 16, 202

Have you collected a U.S. tax identification number (TIN) from each of your U.S. account holders? If you were not able to, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants to know the reason and has created reporting codes to use on your Y2020 FATCA reporting. FATCA TIN Reporting As part of a Foreign Financial Institution’s (FFI’s) FATCA obligations, it must report the U.S. TIN for each specified U.S. person who is an account holder or a controlling person. The IRS extended the

The Bahamas FATCA/CRS portal will open for registration and reporting on Monday, July 19, 2021 at 9 AM EDT. The portal will close for 2021 on Friday, August 27, 2021 at 5 PM EDT. As we have seen in past years, the Bahamas Competent Authority is prompt in closing its portal so ensure you complete your reporting well in advance. For assistance, please contact me via my contact page or at elizabeth@elizabethmcmorrowlaw.com. #Bahamas #FATCA #CRS #Reporting

For those financial institutions (FIs) who submit their FATCA reporting directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the March 31, 2021 deadline is approaching. Have you downloaded the IRS’ new public key and checked to see if your digital certificate is current? What Is IDES? Certain FIs transmit data directly to the IRS through the International Data Exchange Service (IDES). Depending on the amount of data to be submitted and an FI’s in-house staffing, the FI will e

The Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation’s (DITC) new portal is now open. The DITC has also issued its 43-page DITC Portal – User Guide and 46-page new CRS Guidelines Version 4.0 dated November 6, 2020. CRS Guidelines Version 4.0 replaces the previous Version 3.0 issued March 15, 2018. DITC Portal: https://ditcportal.secure.ky/login DITC Portal – User Guide: https://www.ditc.ky/wp-content/uploads/DITC_Portal_User_Guide.pdf CRS Guidelines Version 4.0: h

Join me on June 17, 2020 at 10 AM ET for #WebinarWednesday when I will discuss: What Does Controlling Person Mean for the Unsuspecting Executive? ​​David Mesa, Head of Sales at Trans World Compliance has invited me to speak and I selected this topic based on my most popular blog post of the same name. It may be surprising for an executive to discover that she may be required to provide sensitive personal information as part of the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and U.