In an effort to prevent tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems, governments around the world are introducing a new reporting and information-gathering requirement for financial institutions. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) has been designed by the OECD for the purpose of establishing the tax residency of financial institutions’ customers. These regulations were implemented in Poland by the Act of 9 March 2017 on Exchange of Tax Information with Other Countries (CRS Act).
Under the CRS Act, Polish financial institutions are required to implement due diligence and reporting procedures to identify reportable accounts and report them to Chief of the National Tax and Customs Administration. The Act also requires them to identify customers who are non-Polish tax residents and report certain information to Polish tax authorities, which may then be shared with the tax authorities where the customers are tax residents.
Additionally, clients are required to declare their countries of tax residency to Polish financial institutions and any data related to tax residency status must be updated by clients within 30 days of a change occurring. For accounts opened in 2016, the deadline for finalizing the identification procedure is 31 July 2017. Required data must be reported by 31 August 2017.
Clients subject to the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) must provide additional information for the CRS as these are different regulations with different requirements.
Next steps:
To comply with the CRS Act and provide the financial institutions with the required data, individuals should undertake the following activities:
• Establish their tax residency status based on internal law and double tax treaties
• Complete the forms and declarations required by the financial institutions
• Where necessary, provide the financial institution with a certificate of tax residency
EY tax advisors are able to provide individuals with assistance related to the CRS Act. If you have any questions or wish to discuss how this legislation may impact your organization, please contact your EY advisor.
Contacts:
Katarzyna Tomalak – Director
Tel.: +48 71 375 10 74
Email: Katarzyna.Tomalak@pl.ey.com
Eliza Skotnicka – Senior Manager
Tel.: +48 22 557 75 03
Email: Eliza.Skotnicka@pl.ey.com
Marta Dominiak-Sporna – Manager
Tel.: +48 61 856 29 28
Email: Marta.Dominiak-Sporna@pl.ey.com