When you open an account with Syfe, you are required to declare your country(s) of tax residence and relevant Taxpayer Identification Number(s) – commonly referred to as TIN. Details of your financial assets may be provided to the Inland Revenue Department of Hong Kong (IRD) and/or the US Internal Revenue Service (US IRS) and such information will be exchanged with the other tax authorities in accordance with the terms of the Competent Authority Agreements and Intergovernmental Agreement for reporting under CRS and FATCA respectively.
All financial institutions in FATCA and CRS participating countries including other financial institutions in Hong Kong are required to identify the tax residency of their customers or to-be customers to be compliant with FATCA and CRS.
From time to time, we may also reach out to you to confirm and/or update your tax residence information to satisfy reporting or other obligations under FATCA and CRS. If there is any change in the information you have provided to us, you are required to inform us immediately so that we can discuss with you whether any other action is required.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), is a US law that requires financial institutions around the world to identify and submit information on financial accounts held by US persons to the US IRS. FATCA came into effect in Hong Kong pursuant to the Model 2 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) entered into between Hong Kong and the US in 2014.
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is an information-gathering and reporting requirement for financial institutions. Its main objective is to improve tax transparency and reporting through information sharing about financial assets of tax residents in participating jurisdictions CRS came into effect in Hong Kong via tax legislation in 2016. Hong Kong financial institutions are subject to annual financial reporting obligations for both FATCA and CRS. For more details, please refer to https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/dta_aeoi.htm.