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Glossary

Retail Banking and Wealth Management – Mauritius

Automatic Exchange of Information

The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) is a response by national governments to combat tax evasion more widely and effectively. It refers to the process of tax authorities in CRS-participating countries/jurisdictions automatically exchanging data on tax residency with other participating countries/jurisdictions.

CRS

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a worldwide information-gathering and reporting requirement for financial institutions, to help fight against tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems

Under the CRS, we are required to determine where you are “tax resident” (this will usually be where you are liable to pay income or corporate taxes) and give national tax authorities information on those customers that are tax resident/paying taxes outside the country/jurisdiction where they bank. This information may then be shared between different countries'/jurisdictions' tax authorities.

FATCA

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is the name of the legislation introduced by the United States government, to help counter US tax evasion by encouraging better reporting of information. More information on FATCA is available on the FATCA page of this site.

Individual

A customer that holds a personal account or product with HSBC. Under the CRS, this also includes Sole Traders.

OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a group of 34 member countries/jurisdictions plus the European Commission and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa as permanent guests.

Self-certification forms

A completed self-certification form may be used to confirm your tax residency status under the CRS.

Tax residency

Your tax residency is the country/jurisdiction where you are resident/registered for tax purposes. Each country/jurisdiction has its own rules for defining tax residence. For more information on tax residence, please consult your tax advisor or the OECD AEOI portal.

TIN

A Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), also known as a Tax Account Number (TAN), is a unique combination or letters and/or numbers assigned to you. Some countries/jurisdictions do not issue a TIN, but may rely on other issued numbers such as social security/insurance numbers or company registration numbers for entities. You may need to provide these if requested. The OECD has published a list of the acceptable Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) formats and their alternatives.

Page last updated May 2021