Introduction
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS), developed in response to the G20 request and approved by the OECD Council on 15 July 2014, calls on jurisdictions to obtain information from their financial institutions and automatically exchange that information with other jurisdictions on an annual basis. It sets out the financial account information to be exchanged, the financial institutions required to report, the different types of accounts and taxpayers covered, as well as common due diligence procedures to be followed by financial institutions. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) applies in the European Union under the Council Directive 2014/107/EU amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation. In Austria, the Common Reporting Standard has been applied since 1 January 2016 by the Common Reporting Standard Act (“Gemeinsamer Meldestandard-Gesetz”, “GMSG”).
Legal framework
The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors approved a specific series of measures for the new global standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information on tax matters in September 2014.
The measures aim at tax compliance to combat unreported and untaxed income at the country it was generated.
Implementation of framework
In a first step, financial institutions report the collected information to the respective tax authorities in the jurisdiction in which they are located. In a second step the tax authorities exchange the received information to the taxpayer’s residence jurisdiction. The Standard provides for a reciprocal information exchange.
The financial institutions must:
- Identify and collect relevant information of their customers (e.g. regarding their state(s) of tax residence in countries that participate in the automatic exchange of information and their TIN(s)).
- Report the collected information to the competent Austrian tax authority every year. Details of financial assets the financial institutions hold on behalf of non-resident taxpayers and income derived therefrom must be reported.
Information reported to the tax authority
The Austrian tax authority exchanges the information collected from the financial institutions with the tax authority where the clients are tax residents. This information generally includes:
- Full name and address of the account holder (individual)
- Corporate name (entity) and full name and address of the controlling person (individual)
- Birthdate and -location (individual)
- State(s) of residence and foreign tax identification number (TIN)
- Account related reporting data
- Account number
- Name and Austrian tax identification number of the reporting financial institution
- Account balance
- Additionally in case of:
- custodial accounts: total gross amount of interest, dividends or other income and total gross income from the disposal of financial assets
- a deposit account: total gross amount of interest paid or credited to the account holder
- all other accounts: total gross amount paid or credited including total amount of all amounts redeemed
If a reportable individual is a resident of more than one state, all of those states must be reported as states of residence, regardless of whether those states are participating in the CRS.
The closure of an account must be reported as well, however, no account value must be reported in this case.
To determine the tax regime regarding the CRS and the European Directive of Administrative Cooperation (DAC2), we ask you to fill in special self-certification forms and submit them along with the necessary supporting documents:
- Self-certification form for individuals.
- Self-certification form for entities.
- Self-certification form for controlling persons.
Additional information about the CRS
Given that we cannot offer tax advice, you can get more information on the CRS and the list of jurisdictions / countries that have signed the agreement on automatic exchange of financial account information from:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/common-reporting-standard/
- The Austrian Ministry of Finance (BMF) - https://www.bmf.gv.at/services/finanzonline/informationen-fuer-banken-und-versicherungen/detailinfomationen-banken.html
- Your accountant/tax advisor.
Implementation of the CRS
The CRS applies in Europe by virtue of the European Directive of Administrative Cooperation (DAC2) and in the OECD member countries that have signed the multilateral agreement on automatic exchange of financial account information.
Financial institutions must collect information regarding the tax residency of their customers in compliance with:
- Federal law implementing the common reporting standard for the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (Gemeinsamer Meldestandard-Gesetz – GMSG)
Collection and processing of your personal data under the CRS
Any information we collect based on your self-certification documents is transmitted to the competent tax authorities for the fulfillment of Viva Payments’ legal obligation, in accordance with the applicable legal framework on the CRS. For information on the processing of your personal data by Viva Payments in accordance with the EU Regulation 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) you can refer to Viva Payments’ Privacy Policy.