The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) A MOVE TO GLOBAL INFORMATION REPORTING

COMMON REPORTING STANDARDS // 1

CRS Service

As the world becomes increasingly global the importance of automatic exchange of information (AEOI) as a means to combat cross border tax fraud and tax evasion has recently been recognised at the international level and within the European Union; out of these efforts the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) evolved.

BACKGROUND In 2010, the United States (US) enacted legislation, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to combat tax evasion by US persons. The goal of this legislation was to identify US persons and their investments and provide that information to the Internal Revenue Service. Central to effectuating this goal was the introduction of increased due diligence, identification and reporting obligations of US persons by foreign (non-US) financial institutions (FFIs) holding the investments of US persons.

As the legislation began to be implemented, the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom approached the US Treasury about implementing a bilateral approach to FATCA which could satisfy the data privacy and protection requirements and reduce some of the more burdensome elements of the FATCA regulations, yet still provide the US with information on the holdings of US persons in those jurisdictions. From this the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) framework was developed.

As IGAs were entered into, these agreements set forth a precedent for the AEOI between two governments, moving away from the previous standard where information was exchanged only upon request. The UK government used the IGA model to enter into FATCA-like agreements with its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with financial centres (so-called UK FATCA) in 2013. More widely, it became apparent that the greater exchange of information would promote better tax transparency and fight tax evasion. Governments saw a benefit to the automatic exchange of information on a global level and the impetus for a global standard was born.

WHAT IS THE CRS? The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) led the initiative to create the standard for AEOI at the global level. Supported by the G7, G20, and the European Union in February 2014, the OECD released the main elements of a global standard for AEOI. These elements included a model Competent Authority Agreement (CAA), which outlines the information to be reported by financial institutions and exchanged between residence jurisdictions, and the CRS, which defines the due diligence and information reporting obligations on FIs. In July 2014, the OECD Council released the full global standard, including its remaining elements (the Commentaries on the Model CAA and CRS and the Information Technology Modalities for implementing the global standard). The entire global standard package was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in September 2014.

The initiative is truly a global one. As of 30 July 2016, over 100 jurisdictions have committed to implementing CRS.

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CRS REQUIREMENTS The CRS encompasses several key elements which form the legal basis for exchange between jurisdictions as well as outlining the requirements for financial institutions:

1) The CAA;

2) The CRS;

3) The CRS Commentary; and

4) The CRS Schema and User Guide.

As noted above, the OECD published a model CAA, which is intended to be an agreement where governments will conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements to automatically exchange information and establish a legal basis for AEOI between tax authorities. It has no direct legal force and, therefore, will need to be translated into local law before it can be implemented.

The CRS outlines the information to be reported by financial institutions and exchanged between residence jurisdictions detailing:

1) The scope of financial information to be reported;

2) The scope of account holders subject to reporting; and

3) The scope of financial institutions required to report.

The CRS Commentary is designed to assist both business and governments to implement the standard consistently. The commentary provides additional detail on the practical implementation of the standard including detailed model agreements, standards for harmonised technology solutions and a format for the secure transmission of data.

The CRS Schema and user guide provide a standardised approach for transmitting information electronically by reporting financial institutions to Competent Authorities. The CRS Schema is the mechanism through which the information will be reported.

OVERVIEW OF THE CRS TIMELINE The graphic below provides a detailed timeline of CRS for Early Adopting (“first wave”) jurisdictions.

Of the countries which have committed to adopting the CRS, over 50 form a group of so-called “early adopters”. FIs in early adopting jurisdictions will be required to implement enhanced CRS onboarding requirements from 1 January 2016, with the first exchange of information taking place in 2017. The remaining jurisdictions will implement CRS with effect from 1 January 2017, with information exchange to begin in 2018. All EU Member States, with the exception of Austria, are CRS early adopters, as are each of the UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

It is widely expected that UK FATCA will be superseded by CRS with effect from 1 January 2016, meaning that UK, Crown Dependency and Overseas Territory FIs will not be required to undertake dual reporting under both regimes.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

1 JULY 2014UK and US FATCA ‘Go Live’

27 OCTOBER 2014EAG signing ceremony

MARCH 2015UK Regulations on CRS implementation

Q1-2 2017Reporting – Expectation that FIs will be required to report

September 2017Reporting – First exchange of information under CRS

1 JANUARY 2016CRS ‘Go Live’ – Enhanced on-boarding required from this date

31 DECEMBER 2015Snapshot – CRS “Pre-existing Accounts” are those in existence at this date

31 DECEMBER 2016Remediation – Complete due diligence for certain “high value” individual “Pre-existing Accounts”

31 DECEMBER 2017Remediation – Complete due diligence for all other “Pre-existing Accounts”

COMMON REPORTING STANDARDS // 3

COMPLIANCEBNY Mellon invested heavily in infrastructure to facilitate compliance with information reporting requirements. Under the CRS and EU Directive, BNY Mellon is required to perform certain due diligence procedures in order to identify Reportable Accounts and subsequently report that account holder’s information to the tax authorities of the country in which we operate. The tax authorities will then exchange the information with the tax authority of the country in which the account holder has certified its residence for tax purposes.

In order to comply with the requirements of the CRS, our clients are required to provide us with self-certification as to tax residence and their categorisation under the CRS. US FATCA forms, such as Form W-9 and forms from the W-8 series, are not able to capture the information necessary to be compliant under the CRS.

Currently, there is no industry standard for capturing self-certification data for purposes of the CRS. BNY Mellon has developed its own version of a customer self-certification form designed to augment existing processes with the intended aim that this will bring future simplification benefits to our clients.

In addition, BNY Mellon’s Transfer Agency business offers a service to help its fund clients be CRS compliant. This service includes enhanced CRS investor onboarding, CRS due diligence on pre-existing investor accounts, change of investor circumstances monitoring and annual tax authority reporting.

US CUSTOMER

UK

FIN

AN

CIA

L

INS

TITU

TIO

N

HM

RC

JERSEY CUSTOMER

BELGIUM CUSTOMER

SOUTH KOREA CUSTOMER

IRSUS PERSON

US FATCA Reporting

CRS Reporting

JERSEY TAX AUTHORITIES

JERSEY REPORTABLE A/C

BELGIUM TAX AUTHORITIES

BELGIUM REPORTABLE A/C

SOUTH KOREA TAX AUTHORITIES

SOUTH KOREA REPORTABLE A/C

SCOPE While the CRS draws upon the concepts first set out under the IGAs for US FATCA, its scope is much larger and will reflect a fundamental change in how financial institutions currently do business.

In particular, CRS will require substantially increased reporting on a greater number of customers compared to US FATCA which focuses solely on US Specified Persons. This is illustrated in the diagrams below, which also reflect the future replacement of the current UK FATCA regime with CRS-based agreements.

FUTURE CRS (AND FATCA) REQUIREMENTS - EXAMPLE

JERSEY CUSTOMER

UK

FIN

AN

CIA

L IN

STI

TUTI

ON

HM

RC

US CUSTOMER

IRSUS PERSON

US/UK FATCA Reporting

JERSEY TAX AUTHORITIES

JERSEY PERSON

CURRENT US/UK FATCA REQUIREMENTS - EXAMPLE

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Would you like to learn more?

If you would like to receive further information about the service, please contact your BNY Mellon Relationship Manager or a member of the BNY Mellon Tax Team.

BNY MELLON TAX CONTACTS

Mariano Giralt Head of Global Tax Services +44 207 163 6463 mariano.giralt@bnymellon.com

Lorraine White Head of Global Securities Tax Research – Global Tax Services CRS Tax Technical Lead for the Investment Services Business, Global Tax Services +44 207 163 3029 lorraine.white@bnymellon.com

Larke Sutton Senior Manager, Global Tax Services +44 207 163 8385 larke.sutton@bnymellon.com

COMMON REPORTING STANDARDS // 5

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