Overseas Residence and Tax
Overseas Residence and Tax
The Self-Certification form is able to be used by any overseas tax resident (of any country other than Australia) or U.S. person in order to correctly declare the overseas person tax residency status or U.S. person status to Bank First. Please note, for U.S. persons, the Self-Certification form can be used instead of any other U.S. issued form for this purpose, such as W-9 form.
Instructions to complete the Self-Certification form are contained on the form itself, but in summary they require a declaration of the relevant overseas country and the applicable Tax Identification Number (TIN). Please note, that if you opt not to disclose details as required through the Self-Certification form, this may preclude our ability to open an account. In addition to this, Bank First may be legally obliged to disclose information relating to persons who are U.S persons or overseas tax residents, irrespective of whether a Self-Certification form has been completed.If you require further guidance or information about FATCA or US person requirements, please see the section US citizen/tax resident-FATCA below.
Download the Self-Certification form and print a copy which can then be posted or emailed back to us.The completed form can be emailed to: info@bankfirst.com.au or posted to:
Bank First
PO Box 338
Camberwell VIC 3124Special rules apply to new and existing customers who are citizens or tax residents of the United States. These requirements are triggered by FATCA, being the inter-governmental agreement between Australia and the United States.
FATCA requires a participating financial institution (which includes Bank First as well as all other Australian banks) to report the financial account details of all U.S. account holders who are specified ‘U.S. persons’. A ‘U.S. person’ is defined as an individual who is a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien. A ‘U.S. person’ would also include a non-individual entity (such as company or trust) which has been created or organised in the United States or under the laws of the United States.
If you are a person who is a resident of the United States or who holds a U.S passport (irrespective of place of residence), you would be regarded as possessing the indicia of a U.S. person and, as such, are required to provide the necessary declarations to Bank First to enable us to comply with this regulatory requirement. The declaration must be in the form of a from Bank First. In the case of a US tax resident, completion of a will satisfy both FATCA and CRS requirements.
Tax Identification Number (TIN) is a common international term for what is referred to in the Australian tax system as a Tax File Number (TFN).
In the case of U.S. persons or U.S. tax residents, the TIN will be your U.S. Social Security Number (SSN).
United Kingdom does not have a ‘TIN’ as such but two numbers which are used as a proxy for TIN for UK tax residents are either National Insurance Number (NINO) or Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR).
For New Zealand, the TIN is the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) number and Canada is the Social Insurance Number (SIN).
A list of countries and the relevant TIN format can be found on the ATO website.
Non-resident withholding tax (NRWT) is a tax which is required to be held by institutions that pay interest or dividend amounts to overseas tax residents. Interest payments which Bank First makes payable to customers who are not Australian residents are subject to NRWT.
The Bank is required by law to deduct NRWT when an account holder has an overseas home address or when the Bank becomes aware that a customer may be permanently residing overseas. In addition to the NRWT requirement, customers who become physical residents overseas, are required to provide a declaration to update their tax residency status. This can be done by way of completing this a Self-Certification form.
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is the single global standard for the collection, reporting and exchange of financial account information on overseas or foreign tax residents. It was introduced through an agreement made by Australia with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The regulatory requirements for CRS commenced on 1 July 2017 and in summary, requires all banks including Bank First, to collect and report to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), all financial account information relating to customers who are residents for tax purposes of another country. This information will then be exchanged with the participating foreign taxation authorities. The OECD CRS regime is separate to the United States FATCA regime. While the requirements are similar, Bank First is required to apply the requirements of both regimes in conjunction with each other. Review the section above for more information about requirements for US persons.
Non-resident withholding tax (NRWT) is a tax which is required to be held by institutions that pay interest or dividend amounts to overseas tax residents.
Interest payments which Bank First makes payable to customers who are not Australian residents are subject to NRWT. The Bank is required by law to deduct NRWT when an account holder has an overseas home address or when the Bank becomes aware that a customer may be permanently residing overseas.
In addition to the NRWT requirement, customers who become physical residents overseas, are required to provide a declaration to update their tax residency status. This can be done by way of completing a Self-Certification form from Bank First by clicking this link.
If you have received contact from Bank First in relation to overseas tax residency or to request completion of a Self-Certification form, you can access the form from this following link which can then be downloaded and sent back to us via post or email. Or alternatively, if you have not been contacted by Bank First but believe that you may be an overseas tax resident and that you may be required to provide a declaration (for example if you now reside overseas) then you can download and complete the form and send it to us.
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