New Zealand Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters
Posted on February 28, 2018
As you are probably aware, New Zealand is one of the over 100 countries that have agreed to automatically share some financial account information about foreign tax residents using the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). This exchange of information is globally referred to as Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (AEOI). The objective of it is to assist in detecting and deterring offshore tax evasion.
In New Zealand, information collected from under the CRS may also be used by the IRD for purposes other than AEOI. For example, the IRD could potentially use this information to assist it to verify that the correct rates have been used for non-resident withholding tax.
From 1 July 2017, reporting New Zealand financial institutions (NZFIs) must undertake new due diligence procedures for CRS purposes. These procedures include identifying financial accounts held, or in some cases controlled, by foreign tax residents; collecting prescribed information; and reporting that information annually to the IRD. From 17 April 2018, NZFIs will be able to submit any CRS reports to the IRD through the IRD’s online system (myIR) for the initial reporting period commencing 1 July 2017 and ending 31 March 2018, and then for annual cycles of 1 April to 31 March. All CRS reports must be filed with the IRD by no later than 30 June each year.
CRS may have impact on New Zealand residents who have connections with other countries. To help you reduce some unnecessary tax risks resulting from CRS, we have put together a few check-points for your consideration. Please take a moment to go through the list below and, if necessary, take actions to update your records with your financial institutions or seek further advice as soon as possible.
1. Review your tax residency status. Have you ever lived in other countries? Do you have various personal, social and economic connections with other countries? If yes, please check whether you are treated as a tax resident in those countries. You may need to seek professional advice in the relevant country.
2. Prior to 30 June 2017, do you hold any personal or entity accounts with New Zealand or overseas banks or financial institutions (e.g. an investment house)? Do you have signing authority for, control over, or connections of any other kinds with a financial account that is not under your name (e.g. your relative’s bank account) in New Zealand or overseas? Do you receive (or may receive) beneficiary distribution from a trust’s financial account(s)? Do you have a related financial account in New Zealand that has a 2% AIL applying to it? If your answer is yes to any of the above questions, please check whether the information held about you by your various financial institutions are correct. Particularly, if any of your financial account contains one or more of the following “indicia”, is the information correct? You may need to contact your financial institutions to obtain the relevant information.
Indicia:
identification of the account holder as a resident of a foreign jurisdiction;
current mailing or residence address (including a post office box) in a foreign jurisdiction;
one or more telephone numbers in a foreign jurisdiction and no telephone number in New Zealand;
standing instructions (other than with respect to a depository account) to transfer funds to an account maintained in a foreign jurisdiction;
currently effective power of attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with an address in a foreign jurisdiction; or
a “hold mail” instruction or “in-care-of” address in a foreign jurisdiction if the Reporting NZFI does not have any other address on file for the account holder
3. Since 1 July 2017, have you opened a new account with a financial institution in New Zealand or overseas? If yes, have you completed a “self-certification” with the financial institution, and is all the information included in your self-certification correct? Again, you may need to contact your financial institutions to obtain the relevant information.
4. Do you have an New Zealand entity that is a “Financial institution”, which is required by law to register with the IRD and have CRS reporting obligations? Financial institution generally means a custodial institution, depository institution, specified insurance company, or investment entity (include both “in business” and “managed” investment entities). Most of these categories require that the entity carry on a specified type of business for customers. Therefore, they will be very unlikely to apply to your family entities (e.g. a family trust, etc.). However, if your entity derives most of its income (50% or more) from investing or trading in financial assets over a relevant period and it is managed by a financial institution (e.g. a financial institution corporate trustee or fund manager), then it could be a “managed” investment entity financial institution and thus has CRS registration and reporting obligations. If you believe that any of your entity falls under this category, please contact your fund manager/investment advisor as soon as possible to check what actions have been undertaken. Please contact us if further advice is required regarding this point.
5. Reporting NZFIs will also be required to report to the IRD certain accounts where they have not been able to determine the residency of an account holder. These are known as “undocumented accounts”. If an account is undocumented the Reporting NZFI will need to re-apply procedures annually until the account ceases to be undocumented. Therefore, it is important that you check the tax residency details are correct for all the financial accounts you have connections with.
6. CRS is an ongoing monitoring process, if you have a change in circumstance, your financial institutions may need to re-assess your account status and report to the relevant tax authority.
7. As you are aware, New Zealand tax residents’ overseas financial accounts and shares investments are often subject to various New Zealand tax rules, including financial arrangement rules, foreign investment funds rules, etc. Unless an exemption applies (e.g. the transitional resident exemption), those overseas investments need to be reported to the IRD under the relevant tax rules. We may have discussed these issues with you when preparing your New Zealand tax returns. If required, please revisit your tax return documentation. If you believe that you have any overseas financial accounts/investments that need to be reported to the IRD, but have not yet done so due to omission or other reasons, please discuss with us as soon as possible. In this situation, it might be necessary to make a voluntary disclosure to the IRD.
Disclaimer:
The above information is a very brief summary of a few key points under the AEOI and CRS laws in New Zealand. It is for your information only and does not constitute a tax opinion or advice. If you require advice, please contact us or your tax adviser. You can also find more information about tax residency, AEOI and CRS through NZ www.ird.govt.nz/international/exchange/crs<http://www.ird.govt.nz/international/exchange/crs> and OECD www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/<http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/>.
关于新西兰自动交换涉税金融账户信息及通用报告标准的几点建议
全世界目前有 100多个国家达成协议使用通用报告标准(以下简称“CRS”)来自动交换外国居民的涉税金融账户信息(以下简称“AEOI”)。众所周知,新西兰是这些国家中的一员。 AEOI的目的是协助调查和遏制海外逃税。
新西兰税务局(以下简称“IRD”)也可能将CRS信息用于AEOI以外的其它目的。 例如,IRD可能会用这些信息来协助确认纳税人使用的非居民预扣税率是否正确。
从2017年7月1日起, 新西兰金融机构(以下简称“NZFIs”)必须按照CRS要求进行新的尽职调查。 调查程序包括识别外国税务居民持有或控制的金融账户,收集特定的信息,并每年向IRD报告这些信息。 从2018年4月17日起,NZFIs就可以通过IRD的网上系统myIR提交CRS报告。第一份CRS报告涵盖2017年7月1日至2018年3月31日的9个月时间。接下来的年报期限为每年4月1日至次年的3月31日。所有CRS年报必须在每年的6月30日前提交给IRD 。
CRS对与海外有经济联系的人士可能会有一定的影响。 为了帮助您减少CRS带来的一些不必要的税务风险,我们列举了一些问题/检查点供您参考。 请花点时间阅读以下内容,如有必要,请尽快更新您所在金融机构的记录或寻求进一步的建议。
1. 确认您的税务居民状态。 您是否曾经在其他国家生活过?您是否与其他国家有一定的个人,社会或经济联系? 如果是,请确认您是否被视为这些国家税务居民。关于这一问题您可能需要在相关国家寻求专业意见。
2. 截至2017年6月30日,您是否在新西兰或海外的银行或金融机构持有个人或实体账户?您是否在新西兰或海外对不在自己名下的金融账户(例如您亲属的银行账户)有签字权、管理权、或其它类型的控制权?您是否已有或将会从任何信托的金融账户收到受益人分配?与您有关联的新西兰金融账号中,是否有哪个采用了2%的AIL利率?如果您对上述任何问题的答案是肯定的,请检查您在各个金融机构的信息是否正确。如果您的金融账户信息中包含有以下一个或多个“征兆项目”,则请务必确定这些项目的信息无误。您可能需要联系您的金融机构以获取相关信息。
征兆项目:
a) 账户持有人是海外居民或实体;
b) 当前邮寄地址或居住地址在海外;
c) 一个或多个联系电话号码在海外,并且没有新西兰号码;
d) 账户中有自动转账或其它常设指令将资金转移到在海外账户;
e) 目前账户中有签字权或其它授权的人有海外地址。
f) 账户中有“暂不投递”指示或者海外的“由…转交”地址,并且账户持有人没有其它地址记录。
3. 2017年7月1日起, 您是否在新西兰或海外的金融机构开设过新账户? 如果有,您是否有填写相关的账户“自我认证”,该认证中的信息是否正确?若不确定,请联系您的金融机构获取相关信息。
4. 您是否有任何新西兰实体是 “金融机构”,从而需要向IRD登记并有CRS报告义务?金融机构一般是指托管机构,存款机构,特殊保险公司(一般指投资类)或投资实体(包括“商业性的”和“被管理的”投资实体)。这类实体大多要求该实体为客户办理特定类型的业务。因此,它们一般不太可能是一般的家庭公司,信托等。但如果您的实体在相关期间的收入大部分(50%或更多)来自金融资产投资或交易,并且由金融公司受托人或基金经理等金融机构管理,那么它有可能是一个“被管理的”投资实体,因而有CRS登记和报告义务。如果您认为您的任何实体属于“金融机构”,请尽快联系您的基金经理或投资顾问查询他们已采取的措施。如需进一步建议,请联系我们。
5. NZFIs还需要向IRD报告那些他们无法确定账户持有人税务居民状态的账户。 这些账户被称为“无记录账户”。NZFIs需每年对无记录账户做CRS报告,直到账户有了完整记录。 因此,确保与您有关联的所有金融账户的税务居民信息准确无误很重要。
6. CRS是一个持续监督的程序,如果账户持有人的情况发生变化,NZFIs可能需要重新评估相关账户并向税务机关报告。
7. 您可能知道新西兰税务居民的海外金融账户和股票投资大多受制于新西兰各种税法规定,如财务安排规定,外国投资基金规定等。除非有一定的税务豁免(例如过渡性居民豁免),这些海外投资需按照相关税法规定报税。 如果您有海外投资并且我们有协助您在新西兰报税,那么我们在关于您报税的信函或邮件中可能已讨论了相关的海外投资报税问题,如有必要请再次参阅这些文件。 如果由于遗漏或其他原因,您有任何海外账户/投资未向IRD申报,请尽快与我们联系。有必要的话,您可能需要通过“自愿披露”的方式向IRD申报。
声明: 以上内容仅是对新西兰AEOI和CRS法律中几个要点的小结。 内容仅供参考,不构成税务看法或意见。如需税务建议,请联系我们或您的税务顾问。