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Glossary

Retail Banking and Wealth Management – Taiwan

Active Non-Financial Entity

Under the CRS, an Active Entity (typically a business that is a trading entity) is known as an Active Non-Financial Entity (NFE). You must meet any of the following criteria to be an Active NFE:

  • less than 50% of the NFE’s gross income for the preceding calendar year or other appropriate reporting period is passive income and less than 50% of the assets held by the NFE during the preceding calendar year or other appropriate reporting period are assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income;
  • the stock of the NFE is regularly traded on an established securities market or the NFE is a Related Entity of an Entity the stock of which is regularly traded on an established securities market;
  • the NFE is a Governmental Entity, an International Organisation, a Central Bank, or an Entity wholly owned by one or more of the foregoing;
  • substantially all of the activities of the NFE consist of holding (in whole or in part) the outstanding stock of, or providing financing and services to, one or more subsidiaries that engage in trades or businesses other than the business of a Financial Institution (FI), except that an Entity does not qualify for this status if the Entity functions (or holds itself out) as an investment fund, such as a private equity fund, venture capital fund, leveraged buyout fund, or any investment vehicle whose purpose is to acquire or fund companies and then hold interests in those companies as capital assets for investment purposes;
  • the NFE is not yet operating a business and has no prior operating history, but is investing capital into assets with the intent to operate a business other than that of a FI, provided that the NFE does not qualify for this exception after the date that is 24 months after the date of the initial organisation of the NFE;
  • the NFE was not an FI in the past five years, and is in the process of liquidating its assets or is reorganising with the intent to continue or recommence operations in a business other than that of an FI;
  • the NFE primarily engages in financing and hedging transactions with, or for, Related Entities that are not FIs, and does not provide financing or hedging services to any Entity that is not a Related Entity, provided that the group of any such Related Entities is primarily engaged in a business other than that of an FI; or
  • the NFE meets all of the following requirements:
    • it is established and operated in its country/jurisdiction of residence exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, artistic, cultural, athletic, or educational purposes; or it is established and operated in its country/jurisdiction of residence and it is a professional organisation, business league, chamber of commerce, labour organisation, agricultural or horticultural organisation, civic league or an organisation operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare;
    • it is exempt from income tax in its country/jurisdiction of residence;
    • it has no shareholders or members who have a proprietary or beneficial interest in its income or assets;
    • the applicable laws of the NFE’s country/jurisdiction of residence or the NFE’s formation documents do not permit any income or assets of the NFE to be distributed to, or applied for the benefit of, a private person or non-charitable Entity other than pursuant to the conduct of the NFE’s charitable activities, or as payment of reasonable compensation for services rendered, or as payment representing the fair market value of property which the NFE has purchased; and
    • the applicable laws of the NFE’s country/jurisdiction of residence or the NFE’s formation documents require that, upon the NFE’s liquidation or dissolution, all of its assets be distributed to a Governmental Entity or other non-profit organisation, or escheat to the government of the NFE’s country/jurisdiction of residence or any political subdivision thereof.

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 residents with other participating countries/jurisdictions.

Controlling Person

This is a natural person who exercises control over an entity. Where an entity Account Holder is treated as a Passive Non-Financial Entity (“NFE”) then a Financial Institution must determine whether such Controlling Persons are Reportable Persons. This definition corresponds to the term “beneficial owner” as described in Recommendation 10 of the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations (as adopted in February 2012). If the account is maintained for an entity of which the individual is a Controlling Person, then the “Controlling Person tax residency self-certification” form should be completed instead of this form.

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. They may then share this information with the tax authority of the country/jurisdiction (or countries/jurisdictions) where you are tax resident.

Entity

This is defined under the CRS as a legal person or a legal arrangement, such as a corporation, organisation, partnership, trust or foundation. An entity will therefore include any customer that holds a business account, product or service with HSBC.

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.

OECD

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

Passive NFE

Under the CRS, a Passive NFE means any NFE that is not an Active NFE.

A NFE will be deemed a Passive NFE if more than 50 per cent of the NFE’s gross income for the preceding calendar year or appropriate reporting period is passive income or the assets held by the NFE during the same period are assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income.

Passive Income

For the purpose of the CRS, passive income* would generally be considered to include the portion of gross income that consists of:

  • dividends;
  • interest;
  • income equivalent to interest;
  • rents and royalties, other than rents and royalties derived in the active conduct of a business conducted, at least in part, by employees of the NFE;
  • annuities;
  • the excess of gains over losses from the sale or exchange of Financial Assets that gives rise to passive income described above;
  • the excess of gains over losses from transactions (including futures, forwards, options, and similar transactions) in any Financial Assets;
  • the excess of foreign currency gains over foreign currency losses;
  • net income from swaps;
  • amounts received under Cash Value Insurance Contracts.

* Passive income will not include, in the case of an NFE that regularly acts as a dealer in Financial Assets, any income from any transaction entered into in the ordinary course of such dealer’s business as such a dealer.

Related Entity

An Entity is a “Related Entity” of another Entity if either Entity controls the other Entity, or the two Entities are under common control. For this purpose control includes direct or indirect ownership of more than 50 per cent of the vote and value in an Entity.

Self-certification forms

A completed self-certification form may be used to confirm your tax residency status under the CRS. There are three types of HSBC self-certification form: Individuals, Entities and Controlling Persons. For some types of Entity, as well as collecting the Entity self-certification, we may also need to collect a self-certification from the Controlling Persons. This is explained on the Entities and Controlling Persons self-certification forms.

Senior Managing Official

In the absence of a natural person(s) that exercises control of the Entity through ownership interests, the Senior Managing Official can be identified as the Controlling Person(s) of the Entity.

The Senior Managing Official of a company is the person who exercises control over the management of the entity.

Jurisdiction of 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 adviser or the OECD CRS portal or the MOF website.

TIN

The term “TIN” means Taxpayer Identification Number or a functional equivalent in the absence of a TIN. A TIN is a unique combination of letters or numbers assigned by a jurisdiction to an individual or an Entity and used to identify the individual or Entity for the purposes of administering the tax laws of such jurisdiction. Further details of acceptable TINs can be found at the OECD CRS TINs.

If the Account Holder is a local tax resident, his or her TIN is as follows:

  1. National ID Card Number (one alphabet code plus 9-digit code issued by the Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior, for example A123456789).
  2. Uniform ID Number (two alphabet code plus 8-digit code issued by the National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior, for example AB12345678).
  3. The current Taxpayer Code Number for those who have neither National ID Card Number nor Uniform ID Number is assigned as follows: Mainland China citizens are coded as 9+yy+mm+dd (for example, born on 25 October 1985, the code would be 9851025); for other foreigners, yyyy+mm+dd+the first two letters of his or her English name in order printed on his or her passport (for example, the code for Mary Jones born on 25 October 1985, would be 19851025MA).

Some jurisdictions do not issue a TIN. However, these jurisdictions often utilise some other high integrity number with an equivalent level of identification (a “functional equivalent”). Examples of that type of number include, a social security/insurance number, citizen/personal identification/service code/number, and resident registration number.

Page last updated August 2024