Previously, the Cayman Islands stated that its FATCA/CRS AEOI portal was offline for maintenance. [See my August 31, 2019 blog post: FATCA & CRS: Cayman Portal Closed]. However, the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) announced this week that it is developing a new AEOI Portal for notification and reporting purposes.

The new portal is scheduled to launch in two phases over the first and second quarters of 2020. The portal will include additional features including:

• Bulk upload options for reporting and user changes.

• Centralized overview of all assigned Financial Institutions.

• Downloadable reports to assist with monitoring the annual reporting progress for FATCA and CRS.

The DITC announcement promises further details regarding the new portal and the 2020 reporting deadline leaving it unclear whether we should expect a different deadline than the statutory May 31, 2020 deadline. As we have seen in the past, the DITC has extended this deadline to accommodate system problems..

Given the risks associated with the development of any new system, we should prepare for technical issues associated with the new portal launch. I recommend that you not bump up against the deadline once the portal is open because the system will surely be tested by the high last minute filing volume.

For assistance, please contact me via my contact page or at elizabeth@elizabethmcmorrowlaw.com.

#FATCA #CRS #CaymanIslands #Reporting