The Common Reporting Standard (hereafter CRS) is a regulation developed by OECD. Its aim is fiscal transparency that will lead to automatic exchange of information between States that have adopted the CRS. A participating jurisdiction (or "CRS jurisdiction") is a State that has agreed to incorporate the CRS regulation into its national legislation.

The European Union (EU) adopted the CRS via Directive 2014/107/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation, known as DAC2. The relations with the non-EU States are managed by multilateral agreements known as Competent Authority Agreements.

Under the CRS, it is mandatory for financial institutions and insurance companies to pass on information about financial accounts and policies with a purchase value held, directly or indirectly, by holders of these accounts or policies when they reside in a CRS jurisdiction.

For further information, please visit the OECD site at the following address: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/norme-d-echange-automatique-de-renseignement-relatifs-aux-comptes-financiers-en-matiere-fiscale_9789264222090-fr

• Applicability of the CRS in Luxembourg

As an EU Member State, Luxembourg must transpose the DAC2 into Luxembourg law. As a result, Luxembourg financial institutions and insurance companies must send the information gathered to the local tax authority (Direct Contributions Administration) which will in turn transfer this information to the authorities in the State of residence of the holder of the account.

• CRS scope

The CRS regulations apply to all the financial institutions located in a CRS jurisdiction, which are obliged to identify the residents in another CRS jurisdiction. The CRS applies both to natural persons and legal entities.

The financial institutions must obtain self-certifications from account holders to identify the residents of a CRS jurisdiction. The information that in these self-certifications must include the State(s) of tax residency and the tax identification number.

• Information required under the CRS

Under the CRS, the financial institutions are obliged to:

1) Identify the customers for whom one of the CRS indices appears:

• Address (postal, residence, box number or care of) in a CRS jurisdiction;

• Telephone number of a CRS jurisdiction (where it is a single number);

• Power of attorney on the account granted to a person with an address in a CRS jurisdiction (postal, residence, box number or care of):

2) Document the customers with CRS indices.

The customers must sign the self-certification to confirm their tax residency(ies).

3) Pass on the information regarding:

• The identity and the information about the identification of the person with tax residency in a CRS jurisdiction;

• His account(s) and the account balance (or equivalent in terms of life insurance products);

• Financial income, including sale products;

The first transfer of information will take place in 2017 and will cover 2016.

• The effects of CRS on AXA Wealth Europe customers

For new customers, AXA Wealth Europe is obliged to obtain the tax residency of customers and their tax identification number. Failing that, AXA Wealth Europe is not authorised to distribute a life insurance policy to the customer.

For customers who already have a policy, AXA Wealth Europe is going to verify the information held on its customers and possibly contact those who fall within the CRS scope to obtain a self-certification. In this they must indicate their tax residency and provide their tax identification number. Failing that, AXA Wealth Europe should consider the account holder as a reportable person.

FATCA

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) entered into force on 1 July 2014. 
The FATCA provisions make it mandatory for any financial institution domiciled outside the United States to report to the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information about its customers who are considered US persons.

AXA Assurances Luxembourg s.a. has made itself a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) with the IRS so that it can continue to provide a quality service to all its customers and comply with the FATCA obligations. 
By being an FFI, AXA can continue to serve its US person customers when this regulation enters into force.