INDUSTRY NOTICE
5 November 2021
To: CRS Reporting Financial Institutions and Service Providers
UPCOMING COMMON REPORTING STANDARD (CRS) COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS
This notice is published by the Ministry of Finance, Treaty Unit to highlight, repeat and update the Notice that was published on the Ministry of Finance CRS web page on September 3, 2021, for the purposes of the Bermuda International Cooperation (Tax Information Exchange Agreements) Common Reporting Standard Regulations 2017. In accordance with Regulation 8, the Ministry wishes to advise Bermuda Reporting Financial Institutions and their Service Providers of the following upcoming additional CRS compliance requirements:
1. Annual CRS Compliance Certification Form: The Ministry has added an Annual CRS Compliance Certification Form (the "CRS Compliance Form") to the Bermuda Tax Information Reporting Portal, which is now available and must be completed annually by all Bermuda RFIs and Trustee-Documented Trusts ("TDTs") starting with the 2020 reporting period. The form for the period ending December 31, 2020 must be submitted no later than January 15, 2022. In future periods, the CRS Compliance Form must be submitted no later than September 30 following the end of the reporting period.
2. CRS Independent Compliance Reviews: To provide further assurance that Bermuda RFIs are applying the CRS rules correctly, the Ministry will soon begin issuing notices requiring certain Bermuda RFIs to undertake a CRS Independent Compliance Review ("CRS Review"). Using a risk-based approach, the Ministry will identify a subset of Bermuda RFIs that are required to engage an approved independent reviewer to perform a CRS Review. The registered Primary User for the Bermuda RFI would received a Notice to Undertake a CRS Independent Compliance Review via email, which will instruct the entity to either engage an approved independent reviewer to perform a CRS Review or elect to have the Ministry perform such CRS Review.
Further information, including detailed guidelines on each of the below compliance activities and a revised Bermuda Tax Information Reporting Portal user guide, can be found at https://www.gov.bm/common-reporting-standard-country-country-reporting.