Make note of new disclosure requirements
Towards compliance with tax information sharing laws put in place in recent times, all financial intermediaries are mandated to seek information from account holders. They are also obliged to share information of your account with relevant authorities.
SEBI too has issued guidelines on identification of beneficial ownership and mandated all intermediaries to identify and verify such beneficiary owners.
In line with the above requirements, AMFI has mandated all mutual fund houses to seek the following information mandatorily from November 1, 2015, for new investors into funds and from January 1, 2016, for the existing investors: information /declaration relating to US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which India has signed an agreement to implement; information/declaration under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) developed by G20 and OCED nations for greater tax co-operation between countries; additional KYC Information, and Ultimate Beneficiary Ownership [UBO] declaration from Non-Individuals.
Accordingly, the following information is mandated as part of the above requirements: Country of Birth/Incorporation; Place of Birth/Incorporation; Address Type [Residential or Business, Registered Office] for the KYC registered address; Occupation; Applicant Income Slab; Net Worth details; Information about PEP [Politically Exposed Person & its relatives]; Information on specific Corporate services [applicable for Non-Individuals]; Information about Ultimate Beneficiary Owner(s)/Controlling Person(s) [applicable for select category of Non-Individuals].
If the tax residency of the investor is other than India, then investors have to provide following additional information for all countries in which they are resident for tax purposes: Country of Tax Residency [also includes the US, where the individual is a citizen/green card holder of the US]; Tax Identification Number [If not available, its functional equivalent to be provided]; Identification Type [TIN or Other, to be specified)].
Online submission
CAMS is facilitating the online submission of FATCA/CRS and Supplementary KYC information, which will then be updated in all participating mutual funds. Investors can submit the required information online in the CAMS website. Updates will happen across all participating funds with CAMS. Forms are also available with the mutual fund house or CAMS/registrar and transfer agent branch counters or can be downloaded from their websites.
