Five reporting financial institutions were hit with fines and administrative costs by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FRSA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for breaking the 2017 Common Reporting Standard Regulations.
The amount to be paid ranges from AED 30,000 to AED 119,000.
“The ADGM is committed to ensuring its Regulations are complied with, including those related to tax reporting, which are based on international obligations and standards. A key objective of the FSRA is to promote and enhance the integrity of the ADGM financial system. Accordingly, the FSRA supports initiatives to make tax systems more transparent, and to prevent practices intended to circumvent tax reporting” said Emmanuel Givanakis, Chief Executive Officer of the FRSA.
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) and established in the UAE on January 1, 2017.
The actions imposed by the FRSA address failures of application of adequate due diligence procedures, keeping records of the performance of due diligence, reporting of required information in a complete and accurate manner and obtaining valid self-certification of tax information from clients.
Last month, the UAE Central Bank sanctioned six banks for non-compliance on tax evasion-related requirements according to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), this initiative along with others implies resilience and vigilance of the UAE in combating tax evasion.
The CRS concerns financial and tax-related information exchange on a global level between tax authorities and other international financial regulators through secure channels.
In addition to defining the parameters of the information to be reported, the financial institutions obligated to do so, and the account holders who must comply, it also specifies the steps that financial institutions must take.
