Last week 30 new jurisdictions were added to the list which Inland Revenue may share information with under CRS legislation. CRS is part of a global initiative to assist jurisdictions in fighting cross border tax avoidance.
Interestingly included in this list are a number of countries where historically there may have been some “tax haven” like activity.
For most taxpayers the CRS legislation simply resulted in another piece of compliance with duplicate information provided, little information feedback and no obvious benefit provided, which interestingly was introduced at the same time the Government was promoting tax simplification.
While the most recent changes signal a continued focus on progressing this exchange of information program, at least for the taxpayer, the change should not result in any more compliance above the already existing CRS / FATCA obligations.