Weekly Global Updates: August 6-12, 2016

This past week we continued to see a stream of updates to global regulations around the world. Check out our weekly roundup of global updates, straight from our Sovos Compliance tax experts. Sweden Will Use CRS Schema This morning the OECD’s jurisdiction page was updated to indicate that Sweden will require its Reporting FIs to use the schema provided by the OECD.  Sweden is an early adopter jurisdiction and will require its FIs to report by May 15, 2017. IRS IDES Technical FAQs Gets Updated Today the IRS added four new questions to its IDES Technical FAQ page. The first question, (A18), concerns how Direct Reporting NFFEs from Model 1 Option 2 countries should register. The second question (B12), addresses how to report nil payments. The third question (C25) deals with the situation whereby an FI must send a correction after January 1, 2017.  In those instances, IRS instructs the FI to use v2.0 of the schema. Finally, the IRS added a question (C26), the IRS informs of a workaround created to address the situation where there are multiple DocRefIds in the system for tax year 2014.  In these scenarios, use FATCA1 and for Individual Account Holders, enter either “CORRECTTY2014, “AMENDTY2014,” or “VOIDTY2014,” as appropriate.  If there is a middle name, then it may be entered after the above has been inserted.  Moreover, for an entity, use the above elements at the beginning of the name.  As an example, “CORRECTTY2014 ABC Inc.” The IRS has also indicated that it will have a testing window in Fall 2016 for the new xml schema. IRS Releases Cambodia Competent Authority Arrangement The IRS has released the Competent Authority Arrangement with Cambodia. The purpose of the Arrangement is to describe how each country’s tax authority will administer the FATCA reporting scheme, including the timing of the data exchange, and confidentiality agreements. Cayman Islands Extend Their FATCA and CDOT Due Dates The Cayman Islands has extended AEOI reporting until Friday September 2.  Previously, the due date was Wednesday August 10.  The new due date is “in recognition of the AEOI Portal issues Users have experienced.”  Mexico Publishes List of Participating Jurisdictions Mexico has published its list of participating jurisdictions.  If a jurisdiction is not listed, then FIs are required to do the pass through to all investment entities.  Norway Updates AEOI Guidance Norway has updated their guidance for both FATCA and CRS.  The new guidance (version 1.1) replaces their previously released guidance (version 1.0) from April.  A list of the updates can be found on page 7.  For CRS, Norway is an early adopter jurisdiction, and so Norwegian FIs will to begin CRS reporting next year.  Norway’s due date for both FATCA and CRS is February 10.  Brazil Updates its Filing Manual Brazil recently updated its Filing Manual from version 1.03 to version 1.04.  Sample changes from the new filing manual include updates to the permissible use of digital certificates, clarifications on the use of payment type codes; and technical solutions admissibility of additional encryption functionality.