Automatic exchange of information agreements are made between countries and allow tax authorities to share information in a bid to clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion. The two major exchange agreements are the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

CRS – Common Reporting Standard - is the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) standard for automatic exchange of financial information. It requires jurisdictions to capture information relating to reportable entities and individuals and automatically exchange that information with other jurisdictions on an annual basis.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) 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.

We can help with:

• Classification of entities and advice on reporting requirements
• Providing senior member of staff to act as the appointed Responsible Officer
• Annual filings for CRS and FATCA
• Form completion

In 2019, Regulations came into force requiring entities undertaking ‘relevant activities’ to demonstrate Economic Substance in the jurisdiction in which they are tax resident.

While there is some variation within jurisdictions, broadly, entities must demonstrate they are being directed and managed, conduct core income generating activities (CIGA) and have adequate people and expenditure in the country in which they are tax resident.

Relevant activities include:

• Banking
• Insurance
• Fund management
• Financing and leasing
• Headquarters
• Shipping
• Distribution and Service Centres
• Holding entity
• Intellectual Property holding

Our experts at Suntera Global can guide you through every step so you can rest assured that any Economic Substance requirements are met.

We can help by:

• Undertaking an assessment of the relevant activities of administered entities and conducting a substance review of all entities caught within the regulation
• Ensuring appropriate filings are completed on an annual basis as required by the legislation according to the jurisdiction of tax residence
• Minute keeping for board meetings
• Providing guidance on what constitutes sufficient CIGA and ‘Substance’ to meet requirements
• Provide specialist support in relation to intellectual property and intangible assets in relation to substance requirements

Regulators in quality international finance centres must collate beneficial ownership information on a centrally held registry as these jurisdictions move towards developing international standards of accessibility and transparency. Most beneficial owners will be people who hold:

• More than 25% of shares in the company
• More than 25% of voting rights in the company
• The right to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors
  
  

Suntera Global operates in jurisdictions committed to fulfilling their transparency obligations.

We can help by:

• Collating ultimate beneficial ownership information
• Attending to statutory filings with regulators
• Providing updated beneficial ownership information to the relevant regulatory authorities