Procedure for registration of financial institutions for the purposes of the CRS General Reporting Standard

On August 19, 2022, the State Tax Service of Ukraine signed the Multilateral Agreement of Competent Authorities on the Automatic Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts (the "CRS Multilateral Agreement"), which provides for the annual automatic exchange of information on certain types of financial accounts between the competent authorities of the jurisdictions that are parties to the agreement.

Yaroslav Malik, attorney at law at EQUITY, in his article "The procedure for registration financial institutions for the purposes of the CRS General Reporting Standard", described in detail how these processes will take place and what it means for lawyers.

We have highlighted a few key points from Yaroslav's story:

• The new Article 39-3 of the Tax Code of Ukraine regulates the rules for financial agents, their clients (account holders) and controlling authorities (STS) to collect information on financial accounts and exchange this information with other countries on the basis of international agreements;
• These provisions of the Tax Code apply to organizations that meet the definition of a "reporting financial institution" and, according to the definition of a "financial agent," are entities that are required to comply with the requirements of the CRS Multilateral Agreement and the CRS General Reporting Standard;
• All financial institutions that meet the definition of a reporting financial institution for the purposes of the CRS Multilateral Agreement ("Reporting Financial Institutions", "RFIs") are subject to registration with the State Tax Service of Ukraine;
• The Registration Procedure establishes detailed procedures for registering DFIs, deregistering them, and amending information about DFIs. This includes, in particular, the following processes related to the registration of collective investment institutions and other organizations for which other entities report on the accounts.
• The amendments to the tax legislation of Ukraine are aimed at fulfilling international obligations on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts in accordance with the CRS Multilateral Agreement and the CRS General Reporting Standard.