The Automatic Exchange of Information is the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Common Reporting Standards (CRS). AEOI started with the FATCA Act (1st July 2014, while CRS started on 1st January 2016.

All Financial Institutions require information from all policyholders, entities and controlling persons regardless of the country/countries of residence for tax purposes. Many countries have signed up for AEOI – for a full list, visit  https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/. Institutions do not send information directly to the IRS, but on owners and controlling persons that are US Specified Persons to their local Income Tax Division who may exchange this information with the IRS.

What is a US Specified Person?

A US Specified Person means a US citizen or tax resident individual, who either holds a US Passport, a US Green Card, has a US residential and/or correspondence address or who was born in the US and has not yet renounced their US citizenship. More information on FATCA can be found at https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-fatca