EQIBank's jurisdiction is one of over 120 countries that participate in the enhanced co-operation between tax authorities through the Automatic Exchange Of Information, which is deemed is crucial in bringing national tax administration in line with the globalized economy. This means that EQIBank follows the required CRS and FATCA guidelines. Details of each of these can be found below:
CRS
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS), developed in response to the G20 request and approved by the OECD Council on 15 July 2014, calls on jurisdictions to obtain information from their financial institutions and automatically exchange that information with other jurisdictions on an annual basis. It sets out the financial account information to be exchanged, the financial institutions required to report, the different types of accounts and taxpayers covered, as well as common due diligence procedures to be followed by financial institutions.
FATCA
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was passed as part of the HIRE Act, generally requires that foreign financial Institutions and certain other non-financial foreign entities report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments. The HIRE Act also contained legislation requiring U.S. persons to report, depending on the value, their foreign financial accounts and foreign assets.
Model 1 IGA:
- The partner jurisdiction agrees to report to the IRS specified information about the U.S. accounts maintained by all relevant FFIs located in the jurisdiction.
- FFIs identify U.S. accounts pursuant to due diligence rules contained in Annex I of the IGA.
- FFIs report specified information about their U.S. accounts to the partner jurisdiction.
- The partner jurisdiction, in turn, reports such information to the IRS on an automatic basis.
- The exchange of information under a Model 1 IGA may be on a reciprocal or nonreciprocal basis.
- Data Safeguarding: Jurisdictions signing a reciprocal Model 1A IGA with the United States will be asked to complete an International Data Safeguards & Infrastructure Workbook. The information in this workbook will facilitate the evaluation of safeguards and provisions regarding confidentiality, use, and infrastructure effectiveness prior to exchanging information. The United States' response to data safeguards is included in this workbook. See Safeguarding Data.