Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS)
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) were introduced to help fight worldwide tax evasion.
FATCA and CRS require banks to check where you’re a tax resident. This allows us to see where you’re paying your taxes.
Although FATCA and CRS are separate, they have similar regulations. FATCA applies to the US, while CRS applies to over 100 countries around the world.
Each country might define tax residency in a different way.
How do FATCA and CRS impact cahoot and our customers?
We must identify reportable customers and share their information annually with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs ('HMRC’). HMRC may share the information with other tax authorities around the world.
If you have an account with us, we might contact you to confirm your status, or if we need more information from you. We’ll do this if any information we have for you shows you may have tax commitments in another country. This could be a foreign address, postal address, country of residence or telephone number. For FATCA, it might be your nationality or that your place of birth was the US.
It's important that you let us know about any changes to your circumstances when they happen.
What information is required?
In line with the FATCA and CRS requirements, we'll need to collect your:
- Name
- Address
- Country of birth
- Date of birth
- Countries and jurisdictions of tax residence
- Taxpayer identification numbers – these don’t apply in all countries.
Your Tax Identification Number (TIN) is a series of letters and numbers set by your country of residence to identify you for tax purposes. Some countries use different names, like National Insurance Numbers in the UK or Social Security Numbers in the US.
Read this guide for more information on the structure and format of TINs that different countries use.
Queries
If you need further help on FATCA and the CRS and your tax position, please contact a tax adviser, we can't provide tax advice. You may also find useful guidance on the HMRC AEOI website and the OECD Portal.
If you think you’re a tax resident of a foreign jurisdiction but don’t know your TIN, contact the tax authority in the relevant country.