Inland Revenue Exchanging Financial information with Foreign Tax Jurisdictions

Are you a tax resident of another foreign country?

New Zealand has committed to a global initiative led by the OECD on the automatic exchange of financial account information using the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

As part of this global initiative, all reporting financial institutions (such as banks etc) are required to identify and collect information on accounts held by account holders who are foreign tax residents. The financial institutions are required to collect and submit the financial account information to their respective tax authorities to facilitate an annual international exchange with other jurisdictions.

We have seen a few of our clients already receive letters from Inland Revenue where they have received information from foreign jurisdictions on interest earning bank accounts or other income earning assets which are not currently declared in their New Zealand income tax return filings.

As of the 31 March 2019 year, the IRD has exchange of information agreements with 90 Reportable Jurisdictions – including most Asian countries such as India and Pakistan.

If you have questions about your tax residence status, you should contact us immediately!