FATCA and CRS - What financial institutions should be doing

United Kingdom

The CMS analysis looks at:

  • FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and the reporting requirements applicable to financial institutions under the intergovernmental agreements with the US. These apply in the UK and 70 other jurisdictions, with another 39 countries where an agreement has been reached in substance.
  • CRS (Common Reporting Standard) - the OECD’s global standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information between governments, and related reporting requirements for financial institutions. The CRS initiative provides the legal basis for UK financial institutions to provide the required data to HMRC of their non-UK clients. The necessary client due diligence starts in 2016 and institutions are required to provide data to HMRC from 2017.

This article looks at:

  • the reporting requirements under both FATCA and CRS
  • the basis for information exchange between tax authorities
  • the differences between the two regimes, and
  • the steps financial institutions should be taking.