Call for comment: Proposed draft amendments to the Common Reporting Standards in RSA

Legislative amendments to the Tax Administration Act were affected in the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2015, in order to implement a scheme under which SARS may require South African financial institutions to collect information under the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, which encompasses the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) that was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers in 2014.

SARS has published regulations pertaining to CRS for public comment; as well as the following notices (30 November 2015):

• Briefing Notes for Non-Reporting Financial Institutions
• Templates for Excluded Accounts
• The unofficial draft CRS Regulations with tracked changes