Guidelines on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information

The Office of the Commissioner for Revenue has published consolidated guidelines on the automatic exchange of financial account information in connection with the application of FACTA IGA, CRS and DAC II. These supersede and revoke any previously issued guidelines supplementing these instruments.

The salient changes included in the Guidelines are the following:

• A clarification on entity classification pertaining to Cell Companies in line with the previous determinations issued by the Commissioner for Revenue.
• The elimination of Holding and Treasury Company FI in FATCA. In this regard, Holding and Treasury Companies of FIs which do not fall within the definition of a Financial Institution are no longer deemed as Financial Institutions.
• Clarification on Distributed Ledger Technology Assets to align it with the Guidelines issued by the Commissioner for Revenue on this matter for tax purposes.
• More complete notes on Registration and Modifications of Domestic Registrations and the introduction of guidance on the cancellation of domestic registration and GIIN.
• Clarifications on reporting obligations pertaining to structures with underlying structures which do not have a separate legal personality.
• The definition of Passive Income has been aligned in its entirety with the Income Tax Act to ensure more certainty.
• Current CBI / RBI Guidelines will be extended to FATCA.
• Changes in deadlines limited to the “Excel Spreadsheet” Submissions.
• Detailed Guidelines on the Completion of Data Elements.
• Updated information on Recalcitrant Accounts / Undocumented Accounts.