United Kingdom–British Virgin Islands Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information

Summary

This is an intergovernmental agreement between the Competent Authorities of the United Kingdom and the British Virgin Islands establishing automatic annual exchange of financial account information under the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS). It operationalises Article 5A of the 2008 UK-BVI Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and sets out what information is exchanged, the timing and format of exchange, and confidentiality and enforcement safeguards.

• Scope: Applies to BVI Reporting Financial Institutions that must identify and report on financial accounts held by UK Reportable Persons (UK Reportable Accounts), following CRS-consistent due diligence.
• Exchange obligation: The BVI Competent Authority (ITA) must annually and automatically exchange specified account holder and financial information with the UK Competent Authority.
• Timing: Information exchange commences from the year 2017, to be transmitted within nine months after the end of the calendar year to which it relates.
• Format: Information must be exchanged using the CRS schema in Extensible Markup Language, with agreed data transmission and encryption methods.
• Compliance and enforcement: Each Competent Authority must notify the other of suspected reporting errors or non-compliance by a Reporting Financial Institution, and the BVI Competent Authority must take domestic-law measures to address such errors or non-compliance.
• Confidentiality: Exchanged information is subject to TIEA confidentiality rules and data safeguards; breaches must be notified immediately, and significant non-compliance can lead to suspension of exchange or termination of the Agreement (effective 12 months after written notice).

The Agreement itself is a government-to-government instrument rather than a direct rule imposing new obligations on private entities, but it underpins the CRS reporting and due diligence duties that BVI financial institutions must follow under BVI domestic CRS legislation and ITA guidance.

Key obligations

• The BVI Competent Authority (ITA) must annually exchange CRS-specified financial account information on UK Reportable Accounts with the UK Competent Authority.
• Information for each calendar year must be transmitted within nine months after the end of that calendar year, commencing with the 2017 reporting year.
• Exchanged information must be provided in the CRS schema using Extensible Markup Language.
• The BVI Competent Authority must notify the UK Competent Authority of confidentiality breaches or safeguard failures affecting exchanged data, and vice versa.
• On receiving notice of reporting errors or non-compliance by a BVI Reporting Financial Institution, the BVI Competent Authority must take appropriate domestic measures to address the issue.
• A Competent Authority may suspend exchange upon significant non-compliance by the other party, or terminate the Agreement with 12 months' written notice, after which previously exchanged information remains confidential.

Applies to

BVI Reporting Financial Institutions, British Virgin Islands Competent Authority (ITA), United Kingdom Competent Authority

Deadlines

• within nine months after the end of the calendar year to which the information relates, commencing from the year 2017: Deadline for the BVI Competent Authority to exchange CRS financial account information with the UK Competent Authority for each reporting year.
• 12 months after the date of notice of termination: Termination of the Agreement becomes effective on the first day of the month following expiry of this 12-month notice period.