THE 360 NEWSLETTER

As a reminder, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) was implemented in June 2014 to ensure compliance by U.S. taxpayers (individual or entity) with foreign accounts. Additionally, the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) was implemented in June 2017 to ensure compliance by clients (individual or entity) whose tax residence is in a participating jurisdiction outside of Canada and the United States.

To ensure adherence with these requirements, Investia monitors the completion of the FATCA/CRS fields in Univeris on an ongoing basis and will follow up with Representatives for any missing fields.

Important Reminders:

• The “Foreign Tax Reporting” section in Univeris must be completed in full for each new client and existing client who hold an open/non-registered account regardless of whether the client is subject to foreign tax reporting.
• It is important to note that even if the client is not subject to foreign tax reporting, the box “No” must be checked in this section to ensure compliance with our obligations. If the client (individual or entity) is subject to foreign tax reporting, the applicable Tax Residence Country, Taxpayer Identification Number (social security number, individual taxpayer identification number or employer identification number) (“TIN”) must be provided in Univeris.
  
  
• For individual/joint accounts, if the FATCA/CRS status is not provided, please have the client(s) complete the NCAF/KYC Update Form FATCA/CRS section with initials, or each client completes the Declaration of Tax Residence for Individuals (RC518) form, which can be found in Univeris under the “Task Menu / Generate Forms” section.
  
  
• For entity accounts (e.g., corporations, charitable organizations, partnerships and formal trusts), the NCAF/KYC Update Form and the Complementary Form must be completed in full for all clients, including the sections related to the FATCA/CRS, whether the entity is subject to foreign tax reporting or not.
• For entities, should the Complementary Form not be on file or completed prior to June 2017, the client must either complete the current Complementary Form or the Declaration of Tax Residence for Entities (RC519). This requirement is due to the additional layer of scrutiny of the entity’s shareholders/directors/officers FATCA/CRS reportable status.
  
  
• An individual or entity may be both FATCA and CRS reportable. For example, if a US citizen client has moved to France, because the client is a US citizen and resides in France, he/she is both FATCA and CRS reportable and must provide the TIN information for each country. In this case, please have the client discuss further with a qualified tax specialist to ensure proper disclosure is provided to us for filing purposes.
• All client forms must be completed and sent to Investia Head Office for imaging purposes (and not processing) by fax or via the Secure File Upload tool available on the Advisor Centre.

Consequences of Non-Compliance:

• Effective January 1, 2023, the CRA may impose a penalty in the amount of between $100 and $2,500 per client account and fund companies may reject trades where the client’s FATCA/CRS response is not provided.
• Failure to complete the foreign tax reporting section on the NCAF/KYC Update Form (for individual accounts) or the Complementary Form (for entity accounts) could result in the client being flagged as “Recalcitrant”, which may lead to tax consequences for the client.

Additional Information:

• Investia Reference Guide - FATCA (soon to be updated), available on the Advisor Centre under Guides and Training / Compliance / Compliance
• Guidance on the Common Reporting Standard (Government of Canada)
• Guidance on the Canada-U.S. Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement (Government of Canada)

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Compliance Officer.