FAQs

If they comply with all the requirements of section D.8 letter h) of Section VIII of the Annex of Royal Decree 1021/2015, they will be considered to be an Active Non-Financial Entity (NFE).For this purpose, it can be considered that the partial exemption applicable to these foundations and associations represents compliance with the requirement foreseen in the subsection ii) of this section (the previous is also applicable with regards to the subsection ii of section VI.B.4 letter i) of the Annex I of the FATCA Agreement between the USA and Spain).

a) Cuando la entidad titular de la cuenta sea una Entidad No Financiera y aporte una declaración de residencia fiscal en la que el único dato que falte sea el de si es activa o pasiva.

No. The omission of stating the active or passive condition of the entity does not oblige the Financial Institution to block the account.Notwithstanding, the entity shall be required to complete the Tax return with this information.

b) Cuando la persona que ostente la titularidad o el control de la cuenta aporte una declaración de residencia fiscal en la que falte el dato del número de identificación fiscal, si ha sido emitido.

Yes.The NIF (Tax ID Number) is an essential requirement in the aforementioned Tax return and must always be stated in the same, in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of Section I of the Annex of Royal Decree 1021/2015.In this case, as well as blocking the account, the Financial Institution must report this situation, according to the country or jurisdiction of tax residence stated in the Tax return (unless it is aware or may be aware that this is incorrect or not reliable).Notwithstanding, this person shall be required to complete the Tax return with this information.

In the event that the person who holds or controls the financial account still does not provide the required tax return, despite a complete blocking of the account, the Financial Institution shall report the account with all the information available to it at that time, for as long as this remains the case.Notwithstanding, this person shall be required to provide the aforementioned tax return.

The gross income derived from the sale or amortisation of financial assets paid or entered in the account, i.e. for the value of the asset disposal or refund obtained, must be reported. The income produced from this transaction in terms of interest shall not be reported.

No.

Funds cannot be aggregated by countries, as, in accordance with the CRS, it must be registered as declarer of the fund, not the managing company.

No. The standards for the aggregation of the account balance do not apply to those that are excluded from the concept of financial account.

The Financial Institution may accept the client's declaration of tax residence unless it is aware or may be aware that this is incorrect or not reliable.The OECD has provided an Automatic Exchange of Information portal in which information on each country is provided regarding the issue, obtaining and, if applicable, structure and operation of the corresponding NIF (http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/tax-identification-numbers/#d.en.347759)

It is considered that a Financial institution is aware, or may be aware that a declaration of tax residence is incorrect or not reliable if it does not contain a NIF and the information in the web portal states that the country in question issues a NIF to all its tax residents.Although the Financial Institution is not obliged to collate the format and other specifications of the NIF with the information in the aforementioned web portal, it can contrast this information in order to reinforce the quality of the information it reports and minimise the administrative charges derived from a possible administrative order for having reported an incorrect NIF (for example, by means of the use of programs that check the structure of the NIF).

Yes.This commitment must be included in the contents of the declaration of tax residence.

The Financial Institution may establish periodically (annually, for example) internal instructions and training to those employees who can be considered personal managers. This includes the file of replies of each personal manager stating that they are aware of their obligations and how to report any knowledge of fact on the tax residence of the account holders they have been assigned.

There is no specific limit.In all cases, the responsibility of correct compliance with these obligations falls on the Financial Institutions obliged to report information, and these and third parties to which they resort must be in a position to comply with the obligation foreseen in section 6 of the twenty second Additional Disposition in accordance with the General Tax Act 58/2003.

A company whose gross income is attributable mainly to direct investment, reinvestment or negotiation in property is not an Investment Company, regardless of whether it is managed professionally by another company, since property is not considered financial assets.

If, on the other hand, a company (company A) participates in another company (Company B) that invests directly in property, this participation will be considered a financial asset and the gross tax base attributable to this participation must be taken into account for determining if company A complies with the criteria to be considered an Investment Company (Section VIII, section A.6 a) iii) or section A.6 b) of the Annex of Royal Decree 1021/2015).

Yes.The management requirement referred to in the aforementioned precepts also includes the cases in which a company has the discretionary power to manage the assets (fully or partially) of another company but does not manage the company itself.

Si

The fact that passive income has not been generated from the asset during the corresponding period is not incompatible with the fact that the purpose of the asset is to generate passive income.The importance is that the aim of the asset is to generate passive income.For example, the balance of a current account must be considered an asset that generates passive income or the holding of which has the purpose of generating passive income (interest) even if it does not generate this income.

No.

In accordance with provisions of section 2 letter d) of the Annex of Royal Decree 1021/2015, the declaration of tax residence (declaration of the account holder) must contain a NIF.Thus, for the purpose of complying with the obligation of article 3 of Royal Decree 1021/2015, the determining of the tax residence of Persons who hold the control by means of a declaration of this type requires the Financial Institution to obtain the NIF (if it has been issued).

In accordance with the OECD Common Reporting Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Financial Information, there is no general obligation to carry out a manual search of this type.The general requirement in this procedure is that the address is based on documentary evidence.If the Financial Institution has kept an entry of the documentary evidence in which the address is provided or it has policies and procedures in force to guarantee that the updated address is the same as the address stated in the provided documentary evidence, it will have complied with the requirement that the address is based on documentary evidence.

Yes.The situation may arise in which the Financial Institution has two addresses that comply with the requirements of this procedure. For example, in the event that the account holder works and lives half the year in country A and the other half in country B.In this case, a tax declaration can be requested from the account holder or it could be considered that the account holder is the tax resident of both countries A and B.

The outline for the presentation of Form 289 CRS, based on the outline of the OECD, is prepared to declare several tax residences, if required.

The Financial Institution is not obliged to provide tax advice to its clients or to carry out a legal analysis to verify the reasonableness of the declaration of tax residence.The Financial Institution can rely on the declaration of tax residence of the client unless it is aware, or may be aware that it is incorrect or not reliable ("reasonableness" test), which is based on the information obtained on the opening of the account, including any document obtained in the application of the procedures foreseen in accordance with Act 10/2010, of 28 April, on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and its implementing regulations.

In the Comments of the OECD Automatic Exchange of Information Standard you will find examples of the application of the "reasonableness" test.

Declarations of tax residence must comply with the requirements set forth in section 2 of Section I of the Annex of Royal Decree 1021/2015.Regarding the form in which this must be carried out, in accordance with this precept, any form is accepted, including electronic and telephone channels, provided that the Financial Institution holds and keeps records of its content and date of issue and can accredit if it has been carried out by the account holder or the representative to this effect.

This requirement will be considered not met when the holder, in order to open the account, is obliged to provide the Financial Institution with new, additional or amended information on the same as a result of a legal, statutory, contractual or similar obligation.(See Comment 82 of Section VIII of the OECD Common Reporting Standard).

No.

Un número sustancial de jurisdicciones ofrecen esquemas de "Ciudadanía por Inversión" (CBI) y "Residencia por Inversión" (RBI) y permiten que individuos extranjeros obtengan derechos de ciudadanía o de residencia temporal o permanente sobre la base de inversiones locales.

Los esquemas de CBI / RBI se pueden utilizar indebidamente para socavar los procedimientos de diligencia debida de CRS. Esto puede dar lugar a informes inexactos o incompletos según el CRS, en particular cuando no todas las jurisdicciones de residencia fiscal se revelan a la Institución Financiera.

Tal escenario podría surgir cuando una persona no reside realmente o no solo en la jurisdicción de CBI / RBI, sino que se declara residente con fines fiscales solo en dicha jurisdicción y le proporciona a su institución financiera la documentación de respaldo emitida bajo el esquema de CBI / RBI (por ejemplo, un certificado de residencia, documento de identidad o pasaporte).

No todos los esquemas RBI / CBI presentan un alto riesgo de ser utilizados para eludir el CRS. Los esquemas que potencialmente son de alto riesgo para estos propósitos son aquellos que le dan al contribuyente acceso a un tipo impositivo de ingresos personales de menos del 10% en activos financieros extraterritoriales y no requieren una presencia física significativa de, al menos, 90 días en la jurisdicción que ofrece el Esquema CBI / RBI.

Cuando los esquemas de CBI/RBI cumplan ambos criterios, pero la documentación de residencia proporcionada a los solicitantes seleccionados esté claramente identificada como emitida bajo el esquema CBI/RBI respectivo, dicha documentación de residencia específica sólo debe percibirse como potencialmente de alto riesgo en el contexto de los procedimientos de diligencia debida del CRS, y estar sujeta a las orientaciones adicionales para las instituciones financieras, que se detallan a continuación.

Estos esquemas y la documentación de residencia correspondiente se enumeran en la siguiente tabla.

Bajo la Sección VII del CRS, una institución financiera no puede confiar en una autocertificación o evidencia documental si la institución financiera sabe o tiene razones para saber, que la autocertificación o evidencia documental es incorrecta o no es confiable. Lo mismo se aplica con respecto a las cuentas preexistentes de alto valor en las que un gerente de relaciones tiene conocimiento real de que la autocertificación o la evidencia documental son incorrectas o poco confiables.

Al determinar si una institución financiera tiene motivos para saber que una autocertificación o evidencia documental es incorrecta o poco confiable, debe tener en cuenta toda la información relevante disponible para la institución financiera, incluidos los resultados del análisis de riesgo CBI / RBI de la OCDE. Como resultado, cuando, teniendo en cuenta toda la información relevante, los hechos y circunstancias llevarían a la Institución Financiera a tener dudas sobre la (s) residencia (es) impositiva (s) de un Titular de Cuenta o de la Persona que ejerce el control de la misma, debería tomar las medidas adecuadas para determinar la residencia de tales personas.

En la medida en que la duda esté relacionada con el hecho de que el titular de la cuenta o la persona que ejerce el control de la misma acredita su residencia en una jurisdicción que ofrece un esquema de CBI /RBI potencialmente de alto riesgo, las instituciones financieras pueden considerar plantear más preguntas, entre ellas:

• ¿Obtuvo los derechos de residencia bajo un esquema CBI / RBI?
• ¿Tiene derechos de residencia en alguna otra jurisdicción (s)?
• ¿Ha pasado más de 90 días en otras jurisdicciones durante el año anterior?
• ¿En qué jurisdicción (s) ha presentado sus declaraciones de impuestos personales durante el año anterior?

Las respuestas a las preguntas anteriores deben ayudar a las instituciones financieras a determinar si la autocertificación proporcionada o la evidencia documental es incorrecta o no es confiable.

In no case shall accounts owned or controlled by persons whose sole jurisdiction of tax residence is Spain be included in Form 289, even if they are undocumented accounts in respect of which the financial institution must or may know that the ownership or control of such accounts corresponds to a tax resident in Spain.

In cases where an “undocumented financial account” is involved, all the information available to the financial institution at that time shall be indicated for as long as this remains the case.In no case shall accounts owned or controlled by persons whose sole jurisdiction of tax residence is Spain be included in Form 289.

This shall apply generally and in particular in the following cases:

• Pre-existing accounts of lesser value of natural persons (paragraph B.5 of Section III of the Annex to Royal Decree 1021/2015):If the financial institution does not apply the address procedure and the only evidence discovered in the electronic search procedure to determine tax residence was an instruction to hold correspondence or an address for the receipt of correspondence, provided that subsequently no evidence could be obtained through the paper search either and the attempt to obtain a declaration or documentary evidence from the account holder to determine their tax residence is unsuccessful.This procedure should be repeated when there is a change of circumstances or when the account acquires high-value account status.However, the account will have to be declared with all the information available every year as long as these circumstances prevail.

• Pre-existing accounts of higher value of natural persons (paragraph C.5 c) of Section III of the Annex to Royal Decree 1021/2015):Where the only evidence discovered in the enhanced scrutiny of these accounts to determine the tax residence of the account holder was an instruction to withhold correspondence or an address for the receipt of correspondence, provided that it was not subsequently possible to obtain a declaration or documentary evidence to determine the tax residence of the account holder.The financial institution must apply the enhanced review procedures of the Royal Decree each year until the account is documented.However, the account will have to be declared with all the information available every year as long as these circumstances prevail.

• In the event that on the last day of the calendar year in question, an account is blocked in application of Section 5 of the 22nd Additional Provision of Law 58/2003, of 17 December, on General Taxation and provided that there is no information available regarding the country of residence of the person who holds or controls the account, all of the above and without prejudice to the financial institution continuing to try to obtain the tax returns that may be required.

Yes, it is required.

As a consequence of the amendment of Article 4 of RD 1021/2015, of 13 November (RD of CRS), Order HAP/1695/2016, of 25 October, of Form 289, is also amended to include the obligation to submit the informative return Form 289 even in cases of non-existence of accounts to be reported by the financial institution obliged to report after the application of the due diligence rules.

In these new cases of tax returns for accounts without communication, the content of Form 289 is limited to the concepts included in numbers 1 to 5 of Annex III of Order HAP/1695/2016, as well as the new concept introduced by the present order "6.2.Tax return with no accounts to report” (*).

To facilitate the filing of Form 289 "without accounts to report", a simple Form has been enabled and will be available at the e-Office.

However, this filing can also be made via the already enabled Web Service.More information:

https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/procedimientoini/GI42.shtml

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 5.1 d) of Royal Decree 1021/2015 of 13 November, which establishes the obligation to identify the tax residence of persons who hold or control certain financial accounts and to report on them in the field of mutual assistance, among the information to be provided for each of the accounts subject to reporting must be included the balance or value of the account at the end of the calendar year under consideration.In the case of a cash value insurance contract or an annuity contract, the cash value or surrender value is taken.

Without prejudice to how the cash value is to be determined in accordance with the definition provided in Section VIII.C.8 of the Annex to Royal Decree 1021/2015, pursuant to Section VIII. C. 6 and 8 of the aforementioned Royal Decree, both in the annuity contract and in the insurance contract with cash value, for the purposes of calculating the balance or value of the financial account, the financial institution obliged to report information may use, where appropriate, the capitalisation value or the surrender value referred to in Order EHA/3481/2008, of 1 December, which approves form 189 of the annual informative declaration regarding securities, insurance and income.

For these purposes, Law 11/2021 of 9 July on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud, transposing Council Directive (EU) 2016/1164 of 12 July 2016 laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market, amending various tax rules and on the regulation of gambling, has amended Article 17 of Law 19/1991 of 6 June on Wealth Tax, relating to Life Insurance and temporary or life annuities to which Order EHA/3481/2008 refers, in accordance with the following wording to be taken into consideration, where appropriate, for the purposes of determining the surrender or capitalisation value:

One.Life insurance policies shall be computed at their surrender value at the time of accrual of the tax.

However, in cases where the policyholder does not have the right to exercise the right of full surrender on the date on which the tax is due, the insurance shall be computed for the value of the mathematical provision on the said date in the policyholder's taxable base.

The provisions of in the preceding paragraph shall not apply to temporary insurance contracts which only include benefits in the event of death or disability or other supplementary risk guarantees.

Two.Temporary or life annuities, constituted as a consequence of the delivery of a capital sum in money, movable or immovable property, must be computed at their capitalisation value on the date of accrual of the tax, applying the same rules as for the constitution of pensions established in the Tax on Transfer of Assets and Stamp Duty.

However, when annuities, temporary or life annuities, are received from life insurance, these shall be computed at the value established in section One of this article.".