The first automatic Common Reporting Standard (CRS) exchanges between 49 jurisdictions will take place this month, to allow the annual exchange of information on offshore accounts to tackle tax evasion, with a further 53 jurisdictions taking up exchanges in September 2018
At present 102 jurisdictions have publicly committed to implement the Common Reporting Standard, with 49 of these starting exchanges this month.
Implementation of the Common Reporting Standard requires both domestic legislation to ensure that financial institutions correctly identify and report accounts held by non-residents, and an international legal framework for the automatic exchange of information.
The preferred route to put the international legal framework in place is through the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA), which defines the scope, timing, format and conditions for the exchange of information. At present, 95 jurisdictions have signed the agreement.
First exchanges for jurisdictions committed to a 2017 timeline are now only weeks away and all 49 have activated their exchange relationships under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement.
In addition, 20 of the 53 jurisdictions committed to first exchanges in 2018 have already put the international legal requirements in place to commence exchanges under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement next year.
A further activation round for jurisdictions committed to a 2018 timeline is scheduled to take place in November 2017 which will allow the remaining jurisdictions to nominate the partners with which they will undertake automatic exchanges of information.
There are now over 2000 bilateral relationships for the automatic exchange of information in place across the globe.
A list of activated exchange relationships for Common Reporting Standard information is available here.
