Submit reports on financial account data in accordance with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS)

The self-certification of tax residence is sent by financial institutions (e.g. banks or insurance companies).

• Financial institutions subject to reporting requirements must check their financial account data for the tax residency of account holders or controlling persons in a reporting country according to defined criteria.
• A self-certification can be obtained in particular when opening a new account.
• In the case of existing accounts, the reporting obligation can also be determined on the basis of circumstantial evidence. This can be, for example, a current postal or home address, a telephone number or a currently valid power of attorney in favor of a person with an address in a reporting country.
• The financial account data determined in accordance with the due diligence obligations must be transmitted annually in electronic form to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt).
• Prior to the first transmission, the data sender (financial institution or commissioned service provider) must register with the CRS department of the BZSt.
• The reports are submitted via the BZSt online portal (BOP) or the mass data interface (ELMA). This requires a certificate issued by the BZSt (BOP and ELMA) or a certificate issued by the Elster procedure (only possible for BOP). The exact procedure is described in manuals and videos on the BZSt website.
• For each transmission, the reporting financial institution or the reporting service provider receives technical feedback on the status and result of the processing. If data has been rejected, the errors must be rectified and the data resubmitted.
  

Reportable accounts include accounts of:

• natural persons or
• entities (including trusts and foundations)
• that are resident in another participating state under the tax law of that state

Accounts of passive legal entities are also reportable accounts if a controlling natural person behind them is resident in another participating state under the tax law of that state.

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none

The notification is made annually by July 31 of each calendar year for the previous year.

The data transmitters receive technical feedback for their CRS message. As a rule, this takes a maximum of 2 days. In the event of technical maintenance work outside the submission deadline, processing may take 1-2 weeks.

• § Section 2 Act on the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) of October 29, 2014
• § Section 5 (1) no. 5b of the Financial Administration Act
• Act on the Implementation of Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters between the Member States of the European Union (EU Administrative Assistance Act - EUAHiG)
• Act on the Automatic Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts in Tax Matters (Financial Accounts Information Exchange Act - FKAustG)

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Form: yes
Online procedure possible: yes
Written form required: no
Personal appearance required: no

19.11.2020