Common Reporting Standard (CRS)
Governments around the world are adopting a new standard with the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) between tax authorities. This legislation is known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and is seen as a critical tool in the world wide fight against tax evasion. To date more than 100 jurisdictions have committed to adopting the CRS. These include countries such as the UK as well as areas that are subject to their own distinct tax regulations such as Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar etc. Any reference to countries in the following FAQs relates to all jurisdictions who have committed to adopting the CRS.
The full list of in-scope jurisdictions is available on the OECD website
To comply with the CRS, participating countries must obtain certain customer information from their Financial Institutions and exchange that information on an annual basis with other Participating Countries.
In the UK, CRS reporting to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) must be completed by 31 May every year in respect of customers identified as Reportable Persons or Reportable Entities.
How does the Common Reporting Standard impact me?
Under the CRS, the appointed custodian for your investments, is required to identify customers who are tax resident in one country but with Financial Accounts held in another for inter-country reporting purposes. To do this, the custodian needs to collect information from customers and will report certain information on any Reportable Persons and Reportable Entities and their Financial Account(s) to the local tax authorities.
Most customers will not need to do anything as the majority of our customers will be identified as resident for tax purposes only in the UK and therefore will not be a Reportable Person or Reportable Entity. However, there will be some customers who based on the information held may be tax resident overseas and as such will be treated as Reportable Persons or Reportable Entities.
If it is felt further information is needed we or the custodian will write to you asking you to complete a Tax Residency Self-Certification form. In some cases we or the custodian will ask you for a reasonable explanation and/or additional documentary evidence as proof of tax residency. We or the custodian may also write to you asking you to contact us so we can update the information held such as your Tax Payer Identification Number (TIN), e.g. National Insurance Number or date of birth.
Do I need to do anything?
If you are affected by the CRS we or the custodian may write to you asking you to fill in a Tax Residency Self-Certification form or call us to advise on missing information.
What does the Common Reporting Standard mean for customers?
The custodian for your investments is obliged to report to the local tax authority the customers with a Financial Account who are tax resident in one Reportable Country but with Financial Accounts held in another. The local tax authority will then pass this information onto the Reportable Country where it has been established that the customers are resident for tax purposes.
Where can I find out more about the CRS?
In the first instance, you may like to look at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) website where more in-depth technical information on the rules governing tax residency have been published by each national tax authority. There has been significant coverage on CRS and there are many information resources available, including on HMRC’s website.
Important Note: Schroders Personal Wealth cannot provide help or advice to customers on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) or any other tax related matter. If your questions are not answered by the literature, or, if you do not understand your tax obligations, you may need to decide if you want to seek independent tax advice from a tax adviser.