DECLARATION
I, [NAME and TITLE], [on behalf of] the Competent Authority of [JURISDICTION], declare that it hereby agrees to comply with the provisions of the
Addendum to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information
hereafter referred to as the “Addendum” and attached to this Declaration.
By means of the present Declaration, the Competent Authority of [JURISDICTION] is to be considered a signatory of the Addendum as of [DATE]. The Addendum will come into effect in respect of the Competent Authority of [JURISDICTION] in accordance with paragraph 1 of Section 2 thereof.
Signed in [PLACE] on [DATE]
ADDENDUM TO THE MULTILATERAL COMPETENT AUTHORITY AGREEMENT ON AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNT INFORMATION
Whereas, the Competent Authorities are signatories to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the “CRS MCAA”);
Whereas, the Competent Authorities intend to continuously improve international tax compliance by further building on their relationship with respect to mutual assistance in tax matters, as reflected in the existing automatic exchanges of information under the CRS MCAA;
Whereas, the CRS MCAA provides that the laws of the Jurisdictions would be amended from time to time to reflect updates to the Common Reporting Standard and, once such changes to the Common Reporting Standard are enacted by a Jurisdiction, the CRS MCAA would be deemed to refer to the updated version in respect of that Jurisdiction;
Whereas, the Common Reporting Standard has been updated in 2023 to amend its scope and enhance the reporting requirements and due diligence procedures;
Whereas, the present Addendum seeks to add certain information items to be exchanged under the CRS MCAA to reflect the additional reporting requirements introduced by the 2023 update to the Common Reporting Standard;
Now, therefore, the Competent Authorities have agreed as follows:
SECTION 1
Additions to the Information to be Exchanged with Respect to Reportable Accounts
Subject to the notification pursuant to subparagraph 2(a)(i) of Section 2 of this Addendum, the additional information to be exchanged pursuant to subparagraph 2 of Section 2 of the CRS MCAA, with respect to each Reportable Account of another Jurisdiction, is:
1. whether a valid self-certification has been provided for each Account Holder;
2. the role(s) by virtue of which each Reportable Person that is a Controlling Person of an Entity Account Holder is a Controlling Person of the Entity and whether a valid self-certification has been provided for each such Reportable Person;
3. the type of account, whether the account is a Preexisting Account or a New Account and whether the account is a joint account, including the number of joint Account Holders; and
4. in the case of any Equity Interest held in an Investment Entity that is a legal arrangement, the role(s) by virtue of which the Reportable Person is an Equity Interest holder.
SECTION 2
General Terms
1. This Addendum will be in effect with respect to Competent Authorities that are also signatories to the Addendum. It will be an integral part of the CRS MCAA and the provisions of the CRS MCAA will be applied mutatis mutandis to this Addendum.
2. A Competent Authority must provide to the Co-ordinating Body Secretariat at the time of signature of this Addendum or as soon as possible thereafter:
a) an updated notification pursuant to subparagraph 1(a) of Section 7 of the CRS MCAA:
i) confirming that its Jurisdiction has the necessary laws in place to implement the 2023 update to the Common Reporting Standard and specifying the relevant effective dates with respect to Section 1 of this Addendum and the application or completion of the enhanced reporting and due diligence procedures, or any period of provisional application of this Addendum due to pending national legislative procedures (if any); or
ii) indicating that its Jurisdiction does not yet have the necessary laws in place to implement the 2023 update to the Common Reporting Standard and, therefore, requesting consent to continue sending information without the application or completion of the enhanced reporting and due diligence procedures of the 2023 update to the Common Reporting Standard during a specified transitional period; and
b) an updated notification pursuant to subparagraph 1(f) of Section 7 of the CRS MCAA, specifying the Jurisdictions of the Competent Authorities for which it accepts their request specified in the notification provided pursuant to subparagraph 2(a)(ii) of this Addendum.
Done in English and French, both texts being equally authentic.