Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Order, 2018 (SI 2018 No. 2)

Summary

This Order brings into force, under section 3(3) of the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003, the Competent Authority Agreement between the British Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom on the automatic exchange of financial account information (based on the OECD Common Reporting Standard). The full text of the Agreement is reproduced in the Schedule and, once applied by this Order, has the force of Part 1 of the Act.

• Scope: Applies Part 1 of the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003 to the UK-BVI Competent Authority Agreement on automatic exchange of financial account information.
• Who reports: British Virgin Islands Financial Institutions that are 'Reporting Financial Institutions' (i.e. not Non-Reporting Financial Institutions) must identify and report on UK Reportable Accounts consistent with CRS due diligence and reporting rules.
• What is exchanged: Account holder identity, TIN, address, account number, institution details, balances/values, and income/gross proceeds figures for UK Reportable Accounts, exchanged annually between the BVI and UK Competent Authorities.
• Format and safeguards: Information is exchanged automatically in the CRS XML schema, subject to confidentiality and data protection safeguards under the TIEA and domestic law.
• Compliance and enforcement: Each Competent Authority must notify the other of suspected reporting errors, non-compliance, or confidentiality breaches, and take appropriate domestic measures to address them.

The Agreement can be amended by the Competent Authorities, suspended for significant non-compliance, or terminated on 12 months written notice, with confidentiality obligations surviving termination.

Key obligations

• The British Virgin Islands Competent Authority must annually and automatically exchange specified UK Reportable Account information with the UK Competent Authority.
• Exchange of information is to occur commencing from the year 2017, within nine months after the end of the calendar year to which the information relates.
• British Virgin Islands Reporting Financial Institutions must apply due diligence procedures consistent with the Common Reporting Standard to identify UK Reportable Accounts and Reportable Persons.
• The BVI Competent Authority must exchange information using the Common Reporting Standard schema in Extensible Markup Language.
• The BVI Competent Authority must take all appropriate measures under domestic law to address errors or non-compliance identified by the UK Competent Authority.
• Each Competent Authority must notify the other immediately of any breach of confidentiality or failure of data safeguards.
• A Competent Authority seeking to terminate the Agreement must give written notice, with termination taking effect 12 months later.

Applies to

British Virgin Islands Financial Institutions, Reporting Financial Institutions, Non-Reporting Financial Institutions (as excluded category)

Deadlines

• commencing from the year 2017, within nine months after the end of the calendar year to which the information relates: Annual automatic exchange of UK Reportable Account information between the BVI and UK Competent Authorities.
• 12 months after notice of termination: Termination of the Agreement takes effect on the first day of the month following expiry of this period.

Related documents

• This document is made under Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003 (No. 18 of 2003)