Tax Alert. Russia has Signed up to the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the Common Reporting Standard, CRS)

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1 12 May 2016 Tax Alert Russia has Signed up to the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the Common Reporting Standard, CRS) EY s Russian Tax & Law practice was named a leading Tax firm in Russia in World Tax 2015, an annual guide published by the International Tax Review. On 30 April 2016 the Russian Government ordered the signing of the multilateral competent authority agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information. On 12 May 2016, at the Forum on Tax Administration in Beijing, Russia signed the multilateral competent authority agreement on the exchange of financial account information, thereby joining the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (Common Reporting Standard, the CRS). Joining the CRS will enable Russian tax authorities to obtain information on financial accounts held by Russian-tax-resident individuals and legal entities abroad (in jurisdictions which have also signed up to the CRS, i.e. partner jurisdictions ) from the tax authorities of the relevant countries. The Russian tax authorities will also be obliged to provide similar information to the tax authorities of partner jurisdictions regarding financial accounts held by tax residents of those jurisdictions with Russian financial institutions. The exchange of information will occur automatically on an annual basis. The first exchange of information with partner jurisdictions will occur in 2018.

2 Amendments are to be made to Russian law with a view to ensuring compliance with the requirements of the CRS. Below is an overview of the main requirements of the CRS and how it will affect individuals and legal entities. Main Requirements of the CRS The Russian tax authorities have long been able to obtain information on tax matters through the information exchange provisions contained in double taxation treaties. Russia makes active use of this mechanism, but it works on a request basis rather than automatically. With effect from 1 July 2015, Russia acceded to the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters of 25 November 1988, which provides a legal framework for the exchange of tax information in all forms (on request, spontaneous and automatic). This gave the Russian tax authorities additional ways of obtaining tax information from the competent authorities of foreign states. A further step in the development of cooperation between the governments of various countries in ensuring tax compliance at international level is the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), issued by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), which is intended as an international standard for the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts and income received by tax residents of one partner jurisdiction in another. Over 100 jurisdictions have undertaken to implement CRS requirements, including 56 countries which plan to carry out the first exchange of information in 2017 in respect of the year 2016 ( early adopters ). Joining the CRS means that, as a result of automatic exchange, the Russian tax authorities will, on an annual basis, automatically receive the following information regarding Russian tax residents (both legal entities and individuals): (1) balances of financial accounts held in partner jurisdictions by Russian tax residents and passive non-financial entities whose controlling persons are Russian tax residents; (2) particular types of income credited to those accounts, including interest income, dividends, income from certain insurance products and sales proceeds from financial assets. The information in question may be used by Russian tax authorities, inter alia, in auditing that Russian taxpayers have correctly fulfilled their tax obligations. Implications for Financial Institutions Implementation of the CRS imposes a further administrative burden on Russian financial institutions (such as banks, depositaries, investment companies and foundations, certain types of insurance companies, etc.). In particular, Russian financial institutions and Russian branches of foreign financial institutions will have to introduce/modify processes and procedures relating to client on-boarding as well as due diligence of pre-existing accounts and carrying out subsequent monitoring procedures with a view to identifying their CRS-status. Introducing these procedures and processes will enable financial institutions to gather information on the financial accounts and income of particular types of clients and to submit appropriate reports to the Russian tax authorities for subsequent exchange with the tax authorities of partner jurisdictions. The updated processes and procedures should be implemented by Russian financial institutions starting from 1 January This means that around six months remain to bring existing processes and procedures into line with the requirements of the CRS, while the scale of the required changes is considerable. Implications for Non-Financial Entities Although it is financial institutions which are primarily responsible for gathering information on their clients financial accounts and income, under the CRS every person (individual, legal entity or legal arrangements) has an obligation, when dealing with financial institutions, to provide relevant information to those institutions. The main impact of the CRS on non-financial entities and groups derives from the requirement for the status of each company to be determined for the purpose of providing necessary information to financial institutions or counterparties and, in certain cases, providing 2

3 additional information and documents on controlling persons which are residents of partner jurisdictions. In addition, in a number of cases companies which form part of groups for which financial activities are not the main activity may qualify as financial institutions under the requirements of the CRS, which would result in an additional administrative burden being placed on them. Having companies classified in terms of the requirements of the CRS would make it possible to determine the required level of disclosure and scope of obligations for Group companies, maintain appropriate relationships with financial institutions and minimize relevant risks. Implications for Private Structures Special attention is paid in the CRS to the identification and exchange of information on private capital management structures (such as trusts, foundations, partnerships and the like). On the one hand, such structures may be treated as financial institutions for the purposes of the CRS, thus imposing additional data collection, identification and reporting obligations. On the other hand, the CRS requires the disclosure and transmission of information not only on the beneficiaries of such structures, but also on the settlors, including persons who contribute property and assets in structure such as trust and other persons exercising control over the structure. Healthcheck of the existing structure in relation to CRS requirements should allow, on the one hand, to manage tax risks and avoid many negative tax consequences in the future, and on the other hand, to determine and, if necessary, minimize risks of reporting of incorrect or incomplete information through automatic exchange, as well as enabling the normal functioning of financial accounts (including bank accounts). Authors: Maria Frolova Olga Bychina 3

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