Bermuda: Updated CRS guidelines (v3.0)
Bermuda Ministry of Finance issued updated guidelines (v3.0) for financial institutions
Bermuda Ministry of Finance issued updated guidelines (v3.0) for financial institutions
The Bermuda Ministry of Finance on 22 March 2023 issued the following updated guidelines (v3.0) for financial institutions to review, collect and report information under the common reporting standard (CRS) regime:
- Participating jurisdictions list: Participating jurisdictions, as defined under CRS, means a jurisdiction with which an agreement is in place providing information as specified in section I of the CRS and is identified in the published list. The tax authority will annually publish a list of participating jurisdictions as of 31 December of the previous year for the purposes of CRS. A non-participating jurisdiction is any jurisdiction which does not appear on the list.
- Reportable information—TINs: The account holder taxpayer identification number (TIN) field for pre-existing accounts and controlling persons is optional within the CRS schema since there may be circumstances where the TIN is not available for reporting, such as when the jurisdiction of tax residence does not issue a TIN. However, reporting financial institutions must ensure that TINs are included in the return, as they are required to use reasonable efforts to collect the TIN of pre-existing accounts that are not already in the records. Moreover, reporting financial institutions may refer to the TIN guidance to confirm that the TIN format aligns with the formatting requirements as outlined by the respective jurisdiction.
- Trusts: Per the CRS, the trustee-documented trust category does not alter the reporting and due diligence obligations, which remain the same as if they were still the responsibility of the trust or underlying entity. Thus, the trustee cannot report information regarding a reportable account of the trustee-documented trust or underlying entity as if it were a reportable account of the trustee. Instead, the trustee must report this information as the trustee-documented trust would have reported it and must identify the specific trustee-documented trust to which it fulfils the reporting and due diligence obligations within the return.
Read an April 2023 report [PDF 196 KB] prepared by the KPMG member firm in Bermuda
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