IGA guidance notes
The published IGA guidance notes provide practical assistance to finance industry staff who deal with entities affected by the agreements with the US and the UK.
If you want to compare the changes that have been made from the previous draft, see the annotated draft guidance notes.
Download a copy of the latest IGA guidance notes June 2016 (size 1.4mb)
If you want to compare the changes that have been made to the previous draft, see the version below.
Download a copy of the annotated IGA guidance notes June 2016 (size 1.4mb)
About the UK IGA
The Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the UK is sometimes known as UK FATCA. This is because the information exchanged under the UK IGA is similar to that exchanged with the US under FATCA. It's sometimes referred to as CDOT (crown dependencies and overseas territories).
The overall aim of the UK IGA is to improve tax compliance through the automatic exchange of information.
Jersey financial institutions, such as banks and trust companies, will have to send information held on their UK resident customers to us. We will then send the information to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The information that must be exchanged is described in Article 2 of the IGA. It includes information relating to individuals, companies and other entities, such as trusts.
The agreement is reciprocal, meaning that we will automatically receive tax information on Jersey residents who hold accounts in the UK.
The Common Reporting Standard will replace the UK IGA in due course.
Download the Jersey / UK inter-governmental agreement (size 477kb)
Download update to Annex II and Annex III of the Jersey / UK inter-governmental agreement June 2014 (size 88kb)
Implementation dates and how to report
Financial institutions normally have until 30 June to report to us information relating to the previous calendar year.
For the first two reporting periods, covering 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2015 and 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, financial institutions must report to us by 30 June 2016.
The information should be reported in XML via Jersey's AEOI portal using the US schema.
For practical guidance on how to report to us ahead of the reporting deadline on 30 June 2016, see the following information.
Practical FATCA reporting guidance
Download the FATCA XML v1.1 user guide on the IRS website (size 1.6mb)
Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in Tax Matters on the OECD website
Alternative reporting regime (ARR)
UK resident non-domiciled individuals may be able to use the ARR, which allows more limited information to be reported about them.
The information that must be exchanged is set out in paragraph D of Annex IV.
For ARR reporting to take place, both the UK resident non-domiciled individual and the Jersey financial institution must make elections. Further details, including a specific timetable for ARR reporting, can be found in Appendix 3 of the IGA guidance notes.
ARR reports are submitted by using the template below, which can then be uploaded using the AEOI portal.
The ARR will no longer be available after the UK IGA is replaced by the Common Reporting Standard.
The Common Reporting Standard will replace the UK IGA in 2016 for information to be reported in 2017, subject to certain conditions (see the section below).
Download the ARR reporting template (32kb)
Transition from UK IGA to the CRS
The UK wants to move from the UK IGA to the CRS from 1 January 2016, with first reporting in 2017.
To reduce the burden on financial institutions:
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there won’t be any requirements to make separate returns under both the IGA and the CRS
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due diligence already undertaken for IGA purposes won’t need to be repeated for the CRS
Some 2016 information that would have been reported to the UK under the IGA in 2017 wouldn’t be reported under the CRS until 2018. To avoid this delay, we’ve agreed with the UK that this information will be provided alongside the usual CRS information in 2017.
The CRS doesn’t provide for the Alternative Reporting Regime (ARR), so the ARR will only be available in respect of 2014 and 2015.
UK reportable accounts for 2016 must be sent to us by 30 June 2017. Reports should be in the OECD CRS XML format, in common with other CRS reporting jurisdictions’ accounts.
Download full text on Jersey's transition from the UK IGA to the CRS (size 13kb)
Disclosure facility until 31 December 2015
A disclosure facility has been agreed between the UK and Jersey. UK taxpayers may be able to take advantage of the facility, which can allow for reduced penalties on Jersey-based investments and assets that have not previously been declared to HMRC.
The current disclosure facility will end on 31 December 2015.
Download the Jersey / UK memorandum of understanding on the disclosure facility (size 304kb)
New disclosure facility from January 2016
HMRC has proposed a new disclosure facility that is likely to run from early January 2016 until September 2017.
The new disclosure facility will have tougher penalties than the previous facility. The UK is still working on the design of the new facility.
There won’t be any legal requirement for Jersey financial institutions to notify customers of the ending of the first disclosure facility, or of the proposed tougher new facility when it is published by HMRC.
Financial institutions in Jersey should decide what information should be communicated to “relevant persons” relating to the first and second disclosure facilities.
Download government statement and offshore compliance factsheet on UK disclosure facility (size 133kb)
On-boarding of new entity accounts
The UK will not follow the US IRS notice 2014–33 in allowing a financial institution to treat an obligation held by an entity that is opened, executed or issued on or after 1 July 2014 and before 1 January 2015 as a pre-existing obligation.
Financial institutions will need to get self-certifications from all new customers (both entities and individuals) from 1 July 2014.
IT guidance notes
The UK will accept reports under the IGA in either the US FATCA schema or in the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) schema.
We have produced draft IT guidance notes to help local financial institutions with the process of sending information to us online.
These notes include details regarding our automatic exchange of information (AEOI) online portal and the required file format for data exchange.
Download IT guidance notes updated May 2016 (size 166kb)
Domestic regulations
The exchange of information with the UK under the IGA is governed in Jersey by the relevant regulations. These regulations set out:
- the role and responsibilities of Jersey financial institutions
- the timescales for reporting information to the Comptroller
- the penalties for non-compliance with the regulations
- certain exemptions for the exchange of information
Read the Taxation (Implementation) (International Tax Compliance) (United Kingdom) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 on the Jersey Law website
gov.je