AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION (AEOI)

Background

Governments around the world are adopting a new Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) standard between tax authorities. This legislation is known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

Further details on Automatic Exchange of Information can be found here.

Under the CRS legislation, all financial institutions are required to:

• Establish the tax residency of all account holders.
• Identify any possible connections for tax purposes with any other countries.
• Report the financial account information of customers to the relevant tax authorities on an annual basis.

1) How does the Common Reporting Standard impact clients of Habib Bank Zurich Plc?

New Account Holders:

• Individual clients, who open a new financial account with Habib Bank Zurich Plc, will be required to provide a self-certification form.
• In case of entities, under certain circumstances, the requirement is to identify and report details of their Controlling Persons.
• An account holder must either provide the TIN associated with that tax residence or give a valid reason why they cannot provide a TIN (e.g. the country does not assign TINs)

Existing Account Holders:

• All existing accounts will be subject to due diligence procedures so that Habib Bank Zurich Plc can determine their tax residence and reportable status.
• The due diligence will take place on an on going basis and clients will be contacted to provide self-certification form or other documentary evidence as part of this process.

2) What will the information be used for?

If the relevant due diligence procedures identifies an account holder as a reportable person, or as having one or more Controlling Persons that is a reportable person, Habib Bank Zurich Plc, is required by law to report account information to HMRC. The reporting is carried out annually in relation to the previous calendar year.

The information exchanged may only be made available to tax authorities of a partner jurisdiction in which the reportable person is resident and may only be used for tax purposes. It is prohibited for the receiving partner jurisdiction to forward the received information to another jurisdiction, and it must treat the information as confidential.

3) What information will be reported?

For Individuals/Controlling persons:

Name, Address, date of birth, place of birth, country(ies) of tax residence, tax identification number (or equivalent where applicable), account details, the total account balance or value of accounts as of the end of the calendar year or other appropriate period, gross amount of interest, gross amount of dividends and the gross amount of other income or proceeds from sale or redemption of investments paid or credited to the account.

For Entities:

Name, Address, country(ies) of tax residence, tax Identification Number (or equivalent where applicable), account details, the account balance or value as of the end of the calendar year or other appropriate period, gross amount of interest, gross amount of dividends and the gross amount of other income or proceeds from sale or redemption of investments paid or credited to the account, for some entities the information on the controlling person (please refer to above individual section).

4) What If self-certification form is not completed and returned to the Bank?

If the self-certification is not completed and returned back to us then we are required to report the information we hold about your account to HMRC or your local tax authority

Important Information:

Habib Bank Zurich Plc, cannot provide help or advice to customers on CRS or any other tax related matter.

If you do not understand your tax obligations, you may need to decide if you want to seek independent tax advice from a tax or financial advisor.

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