Financial services firms prepare for CRS implementation
The UAE’s Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the UAE are working with banks and other financial services companies in the country to prepare for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which will come into effect starting 2018.
The CRS is a system developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to increase the efficiency of exchange of tax information between governments.
The system was created for exchange of information specifically to avoid double taxation.
As per the implementation programme of CRS in the UAE, banks, investment companies, insurance companies and other financial services providers will start due diligence from next year to ensure their customers aren’t being taxed twice if they are residents of more than one country.
“The Central Bank, the Insurance Authority, Securities and Commodities Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market, and DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) will all be issuing regulations and guidelines for banks and financial institutions to prepare for all account holders — be it companies or individuals — on how to check and report these accounts to the regulators in order to exchange information with the Ministry of Finance.
“The ministry, under the multilateral agreement, will then have exchange that information with other countries that we have arrangements with,” said Khalid Al Bustani, assistant undersecretary at the UAE’s Ministry of Finance.
He was speaking at a workshop in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday held for financial services companies to acquaint them with the regulations under the CRS.
Over 100 other countries have signed an agreement to take part in the CRS.
