Frequently asked questions – Australia – International Wealth and Premier Banking

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is an information-gathering and reporting requirement for financial institutions in participating countries/jurisdictions, to help fight against tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems.

Financial institutions must identify customers who appear to be tax resident outside of the country/jurisdiction where they hold their accounts and products, and report this to the local tax authority. They may then share that information with the tax authority where these customers are tax residents.

Under the CRS, tax authorities require financial institutions such as HSBC to collect and report certain information relating to their customers’ tax statuses.

If you open a new bank account, invest in new financial products or change your circumstances in some way, we will ask you to certify a number of details about yourself. This process is called “self-certification” and we are required to collect this information under the CRS.

All financial institutions – that includes banks, insurers and asset management businesses – in participating countries/jurisdictions are required to be compliant with the CRS.

In line with the CRS requirements, we'll ask you for your:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth (for Individual and Controlling Persons)
• Country(ies)/jurisdiction(s) of tax residence
• Taxpayer identification number(s)
• Place of registration/incorporation (for Entities)
• Entity Type (for Entities)
• Controlling Person Type for certain Entity Types (for Controlling Persons)

If the information you give is wrong or incomplete, there will be a delay in processing your application.

A TIN means a Taxpayer Identification Number. Some jurisdictions use a functional equivalent (e.g. social security number) as the TIN to identify their taxpayers.

TIN is a common international term for what is referred to in the Australian tax system as a Tax File Number.

The OECD provides information on the issue, collection, practical structure and other specifications of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) formats submitted by participating jurisdictions.

This will depend on where you live and your circumstances. It's a good idea to contact a professional tax adviser for more information on how to determine your tax residency if you're not sure as HSBC cannot give tax advice.

If Australia is your (or your entity/organisation’s) only country of tax residence, you can choose Reason C for no TIN when completing your self-certification as providing your TIN (e.g. Tax File Number or Australian Business Number) is optional for Australia.

All customers need to provide their tax residency information when opening an account.

Even if you have already provided information under the United States government’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), you may still need to provide additional information for the CRS as these are different regulations with different requirements.

FATCA is US Law and requires financial institutions to identify US Persons and report in line with FATCA regulations, based on citizenship. The CRS requires financial institutions to identify the tax residency of all customers and in most cases report information on customers who are tax resident outside of the country/jurisdiction where they hold their accounts.

Under the CRS, we are legally required to establish the tax residency status of all our customers, even if you are tax resident in the same country/jurisdiction as where you hold your account. However, typically your details will not be reportable to the tax authorities for CRS purposes.

Once we have a valid self-certification on file, you will only be asked to complete another when you update certain information on your account or we believe your reportable status may have changed.

HSBC is required to report your tax details to the local tax authority pursuant to Subdivision 396-C of the Taxation Administration Act 1953.

Yes. We will only disclose your information to the local tax authority if we are legally required to do so.

Customer information is protected by a strict code of secrecy and security which all members of the HSBC Group and their staff are subject to.

By law, we have to verify the details you gave in your self-certification. This is why we might ask for a copy of your passport to verify your identity, or for some other proof of your tax residency.

The information provided in the self-certification form, and details about the accounts and products you have with us, including:

• the balance or value
• the total gross amounts of interest paid or payments credited.

For a list of countries/jurisdictions participating in the CRS, alongside the dates that they will start exchanging information, please see the OECD CRS portal – CRS by jurisdiction.

For further information on your tax residency, please refer to the rules governing tax residence that have been published by national tax authorities. You can also find out more at the OECD CRS portal.