Exchange of Information Agreements

The Exchange of Information Conventions/Agreements are divided into these categories:

• USA FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement
• Multilateral Mutual Administrative Assistance (MAA) Conventions / Agreements
• Bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)
• Double Taxation Agreements
• Bilateral Common Reporting Standard Competent Authority Agreements (CRS CAAs) / MoUs
• Bilateral Country-by-Country Competent Authority Agreements (CbC CAAs) / MoUs

The USA FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement is an agreement between the governments (tax administrations) of the United States of America and the Republic of South Africa to exchange information automatically under the provisions of the double taxation agreement between these countries. 

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the Standard or the CRS) is a standardised automatic exchange model, which builds on the FATCA IGA to maximise efficiency and minimise costs, except that the ambit is now extended to all foreign held accounts and not only those of US citizens.  South Africa is also one of the early adopters of the CRS and is committed to commence exchange of information automatically on a wider front from September 2017, together with over 100 other jurisdictions by 2018.

Multilateral Mutual Administrative Assistance Conventions / Agreements are agreements between the governments (tax administrations) of two or more jurisdictions to enable them to exchange tax information on request, spontaneously or automatically, as well as to provide assistance in the collection of taxes.

Bilateral TIEAs are agreements between the governments (tax administrations) of two jurisdictions to enable them to exchange tax information upon request.

Bilateral CRS CAAs are bilateral agreements between the Competent Authorities of two jurisdictions to enable them to exchange information under the CRS.

Bilateral CbC CAAs are bilateral agreements between the Competent Authorities of two jurisdictions to enable them to exchange CbC reports. 

USA FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement

• Read more about how this works on SARS’s dedicated page –  Automatic Exchange of Information
• DTA between the USA and the RSA – as in operation from 28 December 1997
• The primary enabling legislation for the exchange of information under FATCA is the Tax Administration Act, 2011
• Secondary legislation that are applicable include
  • Public Notice 508 (on retention of records)
  • Public Notice 509 (on submission of returns)
  • Public Notice 597 (on incidences of non-compliance)
• An implementation Guide on the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters

Many jurisdictions that have opted to implement FATCA on a “FATCA IGA”, have also shown interest in leveraging the investments made for implementing the FATCA IGA to establish automatic exchange relationships with other jurisdictions, which themselves are introducing similar rules.

Those jurisdictions recognise that, through the adoption of a common approach to automatic exchange of information, offshore tax evasion can be tackled most effectively while minimising costs for governments and financial institutions. 

With the strong support of the G20, the OECD, together with G20 countries and in close cooperation with the EU and the other stakeholders, has since developed the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the Standard or the CRS).

The first reporting period for financial institutions obliged to keep records, apply with the due diligence requirements, commenced on 1 March 2016 and ended on 28 February 2017, followed by a due date for returns of about June 2017 and exchange of the information by South Africa by September 2017.

The Standard consists of the following elements:

• The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) that contains the due diligence rules for financial institutions to follow to collect and then report the information that underpin the automatic exchange of financial information
• The Model Competent Authority Agreement (CAA) that links the CRS to the legal basis for exchange, specifying the financial information to be exchanged
• The Commentaries that illustrate and interpret the CAA and the CRS
• The Guidance on Technical Solutions to be used for exchanging the information, including an XML schema and standards in relation to data safeguards and confidentiality, transmission and encryption

In order to implement the standard on a consistent and efficient basis, the draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2015, proposes amendments to ensure that certain financial institutions must report on all account holders and controlling persons, irrespective of whether South Africa has an international tax agreement with their jurisdiction of residence or whether the jurisdiction is currently a CRS participating jurisdiction (ref. page 15). 

Therefore, South Africa had to take the following steps to implement the Standard and the key conceptual considerations in this process:

• Translating the reporting and due diligence rules into domestic law
• Selecting a legal basis for the automatic exchange of information
• Putting in place the necessary administrative and IT infrastructure
• Protecting confidentiality and safeguarding data in respect of exchanged information

Multilateral MAA Conventions / Agreements

Refer to the Status Summary and the Schedule of Parties to the OECD Multilateral Convention for information on the jurisdictions involved.

Bilateral TIEAs

The bilateral TIEAs have been arranged in alphabetical order per jurisdiction for ease of reference.
Refer to the Status Summary for information on the jurisdictions involved. 

Bilateral CRS CAAs / MoUs

Bilateral CbC CAAs / MoUs