The Ministry of Finance states that, financial institutions shall complete their first reporting of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) information through the “CRS Financial Institution Portal” (website: https://www.cfi.mof.gov.tw, hereinafter as “CRS Portal”) of the Ministry of Finance from June 1 to June 30, 2020. The Ministry of Finance will carry out the first automatic exchange of financial account information with Japan and Australia in September 2020.
The Ministry of Finance explains that, in order to assist financial institutions in completing their first CRS reporting this year, the CRS Portal has been open for CRS account registration since March 1, 2020. As of May 26, 2020, 1,569 Reporting Financial Institutions and 51 Reporting Agencies (Agents) have registered. Compared with the publicly available information on the websites of financial institution associations, there are certain financial institutions which have not registered yet, including around 40 institutions (insurance companies, securities firms, futures commission merchants, securities investment trust enterprises, and securities investment consulting enterprises) and about 140 onshore securities investment trust funds. The Ministry of Finance urges those unregistered financial institutions to register their CRS accounts on that Portal as early as possible.
The Ministry of Finance further explains that, during the reporting test period, 337 financial institutions tested successfully. It is suggested that financial institutions may visit the “Download Tools” section on the CRS Portal to download the CRS XML Schema User Guide, Frequently Asked Questions, and the CRS Offline Toolkit and then create the compliant CRS XML reporting files accordingly. For financial institutions with fewer reporting data (e.g., less than 20 entries) or have neither a Reportable Account nor an Undocumented Account to report, they may use the “Creating XML files” function on the CRS Portal, input their data, and then generate the CRS reporting file in XML format.
The Ministry of Finance reminds that, financial institutions (e.g., onshore securities investment trust funds) that meet the requirements of the“Regulations Governing the Implementation of the Common Standard on Reporting and Due Diligence for Financial Institutions” shall perform due diligence procedures, identify reportable financial accounts (e.g., the financial account with account holders or controlling persons who are tax residents of Japan or Australia), register a CRS account in the CRS Portal, and report information of those accounts in June each year starting from this year. If a financial institution confirms that none of the accounts it maintains are reportable after completing the due diligence procedures, it still has to submit a nil-report in June.
The Ministry of Finance emphasizes that, after a financial institution completes its reporting, the CRS Portal will check the reporting files to validate the XML schema. In the case that any error is found, the CRS Portal will send the status message. The financial institution should then correct the error and redo the reporting. If the reporting files are validated, the financial institution will be able to download or print the numbered confirmation receipt from the CRS Portal. The Ministry of Finance urges financial institutions to prepare reporting files early so as to complete the first reporting smoothly and in a timely manner.
Contact person: Ms. Yu- Hsuan Wang, Section Chief.
Contact Number: (02)2322-8183