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Common Reporting Standard (CRS) FAQs
To help you understand the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and why Halifax needs to comply, we put these FAQs together.
Overview
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Halifax, together with other Financial Institutions across the world, must follow the Common Reporting Standard requirements, with respect to due diligence and reporting.
We must identify customers that are a tax resident in one country with Financial Accounts held in another, for inter-country reporting purposes. Providing local tax authorities with certain information on Reportable Persons / Reportable Entities and their Financial Accounts.
Where the customer is a tax resident in a Reportable Country, the information is shared with His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) who may in turn go to the tax authority of the Reportable Country.
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All banks need to comply with CRS legislation. We are obliged to identify customers if we understand them to be tax resident in one Participating Country but with Financial Accounts held in another. Where the customer is tax resident in a Reportable Country, this information is reported to HMRC who may in turn provide it to the tax authority of the Reportable Country.
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We contact customers in order to collect tax residency information. We may ask you to complete a form for example if:
- You have opened a new account;
- You amended the personal details we hold for you; or
- A review of your accounts has indicated that we currently don’t hold up to date information on your tax residency or whether you are a US citizen.
For individual customers with accounts in a Participating Country, this is usually based on:
- Tax residence in another Participating Country
- Current mailing or residence address, including PO Box number, “in care of” or “hold mail”, in another Participating Country
- One or more phone numbers in another Participating Country (and no phone number in the UK)
- Current effective Power of Attorney or Signatory Authority granted to a person with an address in another Participating Country
- For accounts that are not depository accounts – standing instructions to transfer money to an account in another Participating Country
For entities with accounts in a Participating Country, this is usually based on:
- A place of incorporation or organisation in a Participating Country
- An address in a Participating Country
- Where the entity is a trust, an address of one or more of the trustees in a Participating Country.
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All banks and their branches in Participating Countries are legally obliged to comply with the Common Reporting Standard.
Reporting details
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For Individuals / Controlling Persons
- Name, address, date of birth of Financial Account holders
- Place of birth
- Current country of tax residence
- Tax Identification Number (or equivalent where applicable)
- Account details
- Reporting entity where the account with us is held, such as Halifax, Lloyds Bank plc or Bank of Scotland plc
- The total account balance, or value of your accounts, at the end of the calendar year or other specific period
- The gross amount of interest, dividends and other income, such as proceeds from the sale or redemption of investments
For Entities
- Name and address
- Current country of tax residence
- Tax Identification Number (or equivalent where applicable)
- Account details
- Reporting entity where the account with us is held such as Halifax, Lloyds Bank plc or Bank of Scotland plc
- The account balance or value as of the end of the calendar year or other specific period
- The gross amount of interest, dividends and other income, such as proceeds from the sale or redemption of investments
- For some entities, we would need the information on the controlling person (please refer to Individual section)
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We may contact the local tax authority, if we identify customers that are a tax resident in one country with Financial Accounts held in another.
This is a legal requirement for Halifax to do, to meet UK law.
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Some of the information we hold for you could be missing or incomplete, so we need to discuss and confirm your information.
This will help us understand if we need to send your details to the local tax authority, to meet CRS regulations.
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CRS applies to certain accounts with investment features such as Savings, Current Accounts, Cash Value Life Insurance and other investments.
Please note - CRS regulations allow for exceptions such as Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), lending products and loans.
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You can find some useful guidance on where you might be tax resident on the OECD website.
If you are still unsure, please seek independent tax advice.
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A Taxpayer Identification Number is a unique identifier assigned to individuals and entities for tax purposes. It could consist of a combination of letters, numbers or both.
If you are a Tax Resident in the UK, the TIN will be your National Insurance (NI) Number or Unique Tax Reference (UTR) Number.
You can find further information on TIN formats for your country of tax residence through the OECD website.
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CRS reporting is complete on a yearly basis, after the end of a given calendar year.
If we identify Reportable Persons / Reportable Entities, and they close the account during the calendar year, it would still appear in the report for that year.
After this, your account won’t appear in subsequent years.
For example, local tax authorities would need reportable accounts that were open for all or part of one year, into the next.
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No. By law we must share this data with relevant tax authorities.
Under the terms of the Data Protection Notice (DPN), included in your product terms and conditions, consent is not needed in such circumstances.
You can find full details of our privacy policy in your terms and conditions.
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We would need to contact you if the information we hold changes in a way that could affect your tax residency.
What do I need to do?
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If you have received a request to complete a Tax Residency Self-Certification form, simply complete, date and return the form using the prepaid envelope provided.
Note - You can photocopy the form, but please return documents dated with an original signature.
Usually the completed Tax Residency Self-Certification form is all that you need to send back. If we have requested copies of further documents, please include these with the form. This could include: a valid passport, National Identity Card, Armed Forces Identity Card, current driving licence or Certificate of Tax Residence.
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We need a response from you within 60 days of the date on the letter.
If this date has passed, we still request that you try to return the Tax Residency Self-Certification form as soon as possible.
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Under CRS, we must identify and report customers that are a tax resident in one country with Financial Accounts held in another, for inter-country reporting purposes.
Local tax authorities would still need certain information on suspected Reportable Persons / Reportable Entities and their Financial Accounts.
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Halifax, together with other Financial Institutions across the world, must follow the Common Reporting Standard requirements. This is a legal requirement to meet UK law.
Please contact us if you believe we shouldn’t be sharing your information with the local tax authority.
We will re-issue a Tax Residency Self-Certification form, which you should complete and return along with document proof of tax residency, such as a passport/driving licence.
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You may receive multiple letters if you fail to respond to the initial request to complete a Tax Residency Self-Certification Form. You may also receive further Tax Residency Self-Certification Forms, for example if your circumstances change or you open additional products.
You may also receive requests from other financial institutions if you have accounts with them. Please complete each request you receive.
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If your circumstances change, you’ll need to let us know what these changes are within 30 days from the date of the change.
This could include, for example, a change of tax residence or change of address that could affect your tax residence.
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We contact customers if we have insufficient tax residency information. Or if we have information that indicates they’re a tax resident in one country with Financial Accounts held in another.
If you are unhappy that we have asked you to complete the form, please refer to our complaint process.
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