Extension of Filing Deadline for Returns under the Common Reporting Standard

Last month the European Commission identified and notified Member States of an issue within their validation module for CRS/DAC2 which requires updating and as a result, the Revenue Commissioners have closed the CRS/DAC2 filing portal temporarily and have withdrawn the DAC2/CRS validator tool until the necessary updates have been made.

Under the CRS, governments of participating jurisdictions (currently more than 100 jurisdictions) are required to collect detailed information to be shared with other jurisdictions annually. A group of over 40 countries, including Ireland, have committed to the early adoption of the CRS from 1 January 2016 with the first data exchanges taking place in September 2017. Under the CRS, financial institutions are required to obtain and report to the Revenue Commissioners annually certain financial account and other information for all new and existing account holders (and, in certain circumstances, their controlling persons). This information may be shared with tax authorities in other EU Member States (and in certain third countries subject to the terms of Information Exchange Agreements entered into with those countries) and jurisdictions which implement the CRS.

The Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that there will be no extension to the filing date for FATCA returns which remains 30 June 2017.