HM Revenue & Customs have released an update with regards to Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
As it is known, various countries, including the UK, have signed Automatic Exchange of Information agreements whereby the tax authorities of the various countries exchange information about financial accounts and investments of non-residents. This is known as Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and is aimed to help stop tax evasion.
If a non-UK resident has financial accounts and/or investments in the UK, the bank or investment company will provide information about this to HMRC. This information will then be shared with the country where that person is resident. This is also applicable where the non-UK resident has accounts in the name of a company, branch of a foreign company, partnership or trust.
CRS reporting is carried out on a yearly basis after the end of a given calendar year. If an account has been deemed to be reportable, the account will still be reported even if it is closed during that calendar year, but will not be included in the reporting for subsequent calendar years. For example, reportable accounts that were open for all or part of 2017 will be reported to the local tax authority
in 2018.
The following changes have been made:
- Since the 2018 reporting year Russian Federation is not a reportable jurisdiction for 2019;
- The following countries have been added to the list - Antigua and Barbuda, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Grenada, Macao (China), Nigeria and Vanuatu.
Therefore, the details of any UK bank or investment accounts held by a person resident of Russia in 2018, will not be exchanged with the tax authorities in Russia in 2019.
However, the details of any UK bank or investment accounts held in 2018 by, for example, a resident of Vanuatu, will be exchanged with the tax authorities in Vanuatu in 2019.
