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Overview for Common Reporting Standard (CRS)
To help combat tax evasion globally ,governments around the world are introducing a new information-gathering and reporting requirements for financial institutions, known as Common Reporting Standards.
Under the CRS, we are required to determine the countries or jurisdictions where you are a tax resident .We will base this on information we already have or we may ask you for additional details. In order to confirm your status under the CRS, you may be asked to complete the CRS Self-certification Form for Individuals and return it to your relationship manager. Please bear in mind that CRS is an ongoing monitoring and due diligence process. If there is any change to the information supplied to us that constitutes a change in your circumstance which affects your tax residency status, you may need to provide an updated CRS self-certification form.
If your country/countries of tax residency is/are different from the country where your account is held (Singapore), we may need to report information about you to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) who may share the information with the country of your tax residency. The reported information will typically be of a personal nature (for example, name, address, tax residence country or countries and taxpayer identification number), and of a financial nature (for example, account number, account balance and amounts paid into the account).
Any queries?
If you have any questions regarding your tax residency, please refer to the rules governing tax residence that have been published by each national tax authority. If you have any questions on how to define your tax residency status, please contact a professional tax adviser, as we are unable to provide tax advice. You may also find useful guidance on the OECD CRS portal.
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The Common Reporting Standard was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is a global standard for the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). CRS, governed by local law, requires financial institutions, such as Citibank, in CRS participating countries to report to the local tax authority accounts held directly or indirectly by their customers who are tax residents of other CRS participating countries. The local tax authority will then exchange such information of the customers with other CRS participating countries.
For a list of countries participating in the CRS, alongside the dates that they will start exchanging information, please see the OECD CRS portal – CRS by jurisdiction.
For Singapore, reporting to the local tax authority will commence in March 2018 and the first exchange of information between countries is expected to be in September 2018.
From 1 January, 2017 the Citibank Singapore Limited, International Personal Bank commenced to apply CRS account on-boarding procedures for new individual and entity account holders for the purpose of complying with the reporting obligations at the required time.
If an account is identified as a CRS Reportable Account as of any calendar year-end, information related to that account may be reported to the local tax authority. Reportable information includes personally identifiable information such as name and tax identification number and certain payment / account activity information
Reporting under CRS applies to financial account(s) held by reportable persons (i.e., persons who are tax resident in a CRS participating country and are not excluded from such reporting).
Citibank will therefore be contacting its customers to determine their CRS reporting status and the country or countries where they are a tax resident using a standard self-certification. Depending on the information and documentation collected, Citibank may be required to report information to the local tax authority regarding your account(s) and that information may be exchanged with the country or countries in which you are considered a tax resident.
The CRS affects both individuals and entities that are treated as reportable persons under the CRS.
If you are a tax resident in any of the CRS participating countries you are most likely affected. For more information regarding the CRS, please visit the OECD website at www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/ or contact your tax adviser.
If you are a new-to-bank client, you may need to provide a completed CRS self-certification as part of your account opening process. If you are an existing client, Citibank will contact you as part of pre-existing account due diligence.
Please note that you may receive more than one request for a CRS self-certification if you have multiple relationships with different business units or legal entities within Citi. It is therefore important that you respond to all requests, even if you believe you have already supplied the requested certification to one business unit or Citi legal entity.
Without a valid self-certification form, both new clients and pre-existing clients who wish to open a new financial account with Citibank may not be able to do so.
All financial institutions – that includes banks, insurers and asset management businesses – in participating countries are required to be compliant with the CRS.
This will depend on where you live and your circumstances. Please contact a professional tax adviser or check the OECD website for more information on how to determine your tax residency, as Citibank cannot give tax advice. You can also find out more at https://www.abs.org.sg/crs or https://www.iras.gov.sg/IRASHome/Quick-Links/International-Tax/Common-Reporting-Standard--CRS-/
FATCA and CRS are different regulations with different requirements.
FATCA is US Law and requires financial institutions to identify US Persons and report in line with FATCA regulations. The CRS requires financial institutions to identify the tax residency of all customers and report information on customers who are tax resident outside of the country where they hold their accounts.
Under the CRS, Citibank is legally required to establish the tax residency status of all its customers, even if they are tax resident in the same country as where they hold an account. However, this should mean your details will not be reportable to the tax authorities for CRS purposes.
The self-certification will remain valid unless there is a change in circumstances which affects your tax residence status or where any information provided in the form becomes incorrect.
No. If you are a tax resident of a country other than Singapore, Citibank is required to report your information to the local tax authority who will then pass your information to the country or countries that you are a tax resident of. The participating countries with which the information is exchanged are expected to have a strong rule of law to ensure the confidentiality of information exchanged and to prevent any unauthorised use.
Yes. Under Section 105M of the Singapore Income Tax Act, it is an offence if any person, in making a self-certification, makes a statement that is false or misleading in a material manner. In particular, if that person knows or has reason to believe that such information is false or misleading. Such offence is punishable with a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two (2) years or both.
If you are unable to provide the requested information/certification at the point of account opening, Citibank will not be able to proceed with the account opening for you.
If there is any change in the information provided to Citibank, you are required to inform Citibank promptly and provide Citibank with a self-certification on your tax residency within 30 days of the change/s in your circumstances.
You would need to provide a reason for the absence of a TIN. Please check the OECD website for jurisdictions that provide information with respect to their TIN (http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/tax-identification-numbers/#d.en.347759) and seek advice from your tax adviser on this if required.
Yes, Citibank will still collect your tax residency status and your information will be reported to IRAS as and when requested by IRAS.
