Barrenjoey Tax Self-Certification Forms
Note: the information on this site and the forms contained herein does not constitute tax or legal advice. Barrenjoey does not provide tax or legal advice. Clients are responsible for ascertaining their tax status and for completing the forms and should contact their own tax or legal advisor if they have any questions.
In compliance with international tax regulations, prior to opening an account, Barrenjoey may require that clients complete and provide us with various tax reporting related documents. To assist you in completing these forms, below are links to the various forms we may request that you furnish to us to meet your tax reporting obligations with respect to your Barrenjoey account.
FATCA
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a U.S. law designed primarily to identify, and disclose the identity of, specified U.S. persons—both individuals and entities—who hold financial assets and accounts outside of the U.S. through foreign financial institutions, nonfinancial entities or other investment structures. Since the income from such assets may be subject to U.S. taxation, FATCA generally requires foreign financial institutions and other entities to identify and subsequently report the accounts of specified U.S. persons.
Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) between the U.S. and many foreign jurisdictions facilitate the exchange of this information, and address local bank secrecy and privacy issues that may exist. Failure to comply with FATCA can lead to the implementation of a 30% withholding tax on payments made to noncompliant parties.
When opening a new account, Barrenjoey may request additional information and documentation from clients to determine the account holder’s FATCA status, and for purposes of identifying specified U.S. persons that may have an ownership interest in the account.
Barrenjoey will review existing client account records from time to time to ensure that they are properly documented for FATCA purposes. In some cases this may require Barrenjoey to request additional tax documentation from clients.
CRS
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) at the request of many countries to implement automatic exchange of information between tax authorities in order to reduce offshore tax evasion. Under the Standard, CRS participating jurisdictions introduce local laws to obtain financial information from their local financial institutions on the holders of financial accounts and automatically exchange that information with other CRS countries on an annual basis.
CRS draws heavily on FATCA (being based upon the principles of FATCA Model 1 IGAs), albeit in a broader, more global sense.
Australia has adopted the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) under local laws. Barrenjoey is required to collect and report certain information about an Account Holder’s tax residence status, and where applicable, the tax residence status of each natural person that is a Controlling Person. In order to obtain the required information, self-certification forms were developed which are very closely based upon the OECD Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) template forms.
Please complete the ‘CRS – Entity Self-Certification’ form if you represent an Entity Account Holder. If the Account Holder has indicated on the ‘CRS – Entity Self-Certification’ form that it is a Passive Non-Financial Entity or an Investment Entity located in a Non-Participating Jurisdiction managed by another Financial Institution, please complete the ‘CRS – Controlling Person Self-Certification’ in respect to each Controlling Person who is a natural person. The ‘CRS – Controlling Persons’ form is required for each natural person indicated in part 2, section 2 of the ‘CRS Entity Account Holders’ form. Individuals who are account holders should complete the ‘CRS – Individual Self-Certification form’.