Cayman Islands Update: Further Changes on the CRS Form, DITC Portal and CbCR Regime

CRS Compliance Form

Further to our previous update1, the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority has introduced a CRS Compliance Form pursuant to its power to request information that it reasonably requires to ensure effective implementation of, and compliance with the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) by Reporting Financial Institutions (“Reporting FI”) and Trustee Documented Trusts (“TDT”).

The CRS Compliance Form seeks extensive information with respect to each Reporting FI and TDT, including their regulatory status, financial account data (including with respect to non-reportable accounts), their service providers and CRS and anti-money laundering processes.  The CRS Compliance Form also requests confirmation that the entity has established and maintained written policies and procedures which comply with CRS requirements.  If your Reporting FI or TDT does not have such policies and procedures, please get in touch with your usual Maples Group contact or one of the AEOI contacts listed below.

The CRS Compliance Form will need to be submitted via the new DITC Portal (see below).  In respect of the 2019 reporting period only, the deadline for submission of the CRS Compliance Form is 31 December 2020.  In subsequent years, the deadline will be 15 September.

The Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Co-operation (“DITC”) has published Notes on the CRS Compliance Form which are available on the DITC website.  However, these simply explain the purpose of the CRS Compliance Form, which is to ensure that the DITC obtains the necessary data to demonstrate effective implementation of CRS in the Cayman Islands to external assessors.  Further technical guidance is expected to be published by the DITC in due course.

Industry participants should take steps to ensure that they or their service providers will be able to extract the necessary data for the purposes of submitting the information required by the CRS Compliance Form.

Delayed Opening of DITC Portal

A new portal (the “DITC Portal”) is currently being developed by the DITC.  It had been expected that this would be functioning in the third quarter of 2020.  However, the DITC website now indicates that the DITC Portal will be available in the fourth quarter of 2020.  The DITC Portal will be the gateway for submission of information for information exchange frameworks implemented in the Cayman Islands for which the DITC is responsible, including FATCA, the CRS, the International Tax Co-operation (Economic Substance) Law (2020 Revision) and Country-by-Country Reporting (“CbCR”).

Given that there will be certain new filing requirements within this quarter, industry participants should ensure that they are aware of their obligations to maximise their preparation in advance of the opening of the new DITC Portal.

Country-by-Country Reporting

CbCR reporting and notification functionality are expected to become available via the DITC Portal in the fourth quarter of this year.  CbCR reports due after the time the portal was taken offline this year (25 March 2020) and before CbCR reporting functionality is available on the DITC Portal, must be filed by 31 December 2020.  The DITC has confirmed that there will be no compliance measures taken for late filing in respect of such CbCR reports, provided that such reports are filed before 31 December 2020.

Further Information

If you have any questions relating to the CRS Compliance Form, the DITC Portal or the CbCR regime, please contact any of the below members of our dedicated Regulatory & Compliance team or your usual Maples Group contact.

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¹ Cayman Islands Update: New CRS Form Released and FATCA Deadline Extended