Foreign Tax Resident Reporting

Australian financial institutions are required to collect tax residency information from customers.

The Australian Government has committed to a global standard on the automatic exchange of financial account information. Their aim is to cut down on tax evasion by sharing information about foreign tax residents with other tax authorities.

This requires financial institutions from around the world, including Heritage Bank, to collect tax residency information from their customers. The relevant regimes are known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

As a Reporting Financial Institution under the FATCA and CRS legislation we’re subject to regulatory obligations. To satisfy those obligations, we need you to tell us whether you are an Australian or foreign resident for tax purposes.

You are still required to provide this information if you are an Australian tax resident. If you are a tax resident of a country other than Australia, we'll also need your Foreign Tax Identification Number.

What does this mean for you?

All Australian financial institutions, including Heritage Bank, have to ask for information about the tax residency status of account holders. Please be assured that we will collect this information strictly in accordance with Heritage Bank’s Privacy Policy and only share it as required to meet our statutory obligations.

How do I confirm my residency status for tax purposes?

If you've received communication from us by email, SMS or letter regarding your tax residency status, you'll need to provide certification as soon as possible so that we can confirm your status and complete our records.

You have the following options to provide certification:

  • If you have access to Heritage Online, you can provide your certification under Settings > Tax Residency Declaration. Please note this is only available on Heritage Online accessed through a web browser and not through the mobile banking app.
  • Complete the online form here.
  • Take a copy of the letter or email you received into your local branch, where we can guide you through the process in person.
Online Tax Residency Certification Form
Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Heritage Bank contacting me?

The Australian Government has enacted laws and entered into international agreements which implement automatic exchange of information between countries. These regimes are known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the case of exchange between Australia and the United States of America, and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), in the case of exchange between Australia and other countries that have implemented the CRS.

Heritage Bank is a Reporting Financial Institution under the FATCA and the CRS. We’re subject to regulatory obligations, including under the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth). We’re required to collect information from our customers about an account holder’s tax residency status.

How do we meet FATCA and CRS obligations?

To help meet our regulatory obligations under the FATCA and CRS regimes, we collect relevant information about customers through self-certifications. This information may then be reported to the relevant tax authority if we determine a customer holds a ‘Reportable Account’ due to their tax residency status.

What are the consequences if I don’t supply the requested information?

It’s important that you provide the certification. If we don’t receive the information from you, we may need to provide information about your account(s) to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Potentially we may also need to freeze or close your account(s), but we would contact you again before doing that.

What happens to my information?

We understand the importance of protecting your information.  We take all reasonable steps to ensure your information is protected from misuse, interference, and loss in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can find our Privacy Policy here.

Who needs to provide this information?

All parties to an account need to have the certification recorded in our system. In some cases, the certification is held for some parties but not others. We are only contacting those individuals who don’t have their certification recorded.

We are also required to hold this certification for companies, organisations, and other ‘non-personal’ entities. As a controlling person, you may be required to provide this certification for the entity and/or yourself. The communication sent to you will be addressed to the person or entity requiring a certification update.

What if I have multiple memberships with Heritage Bank?

You will need to provide your tax residency status for all memberships you are a party to – this includes any personal individual or joint memberships as well as any non-personal memberships where you have been deemed a ‘controlling party’ with authorisation over the account. The letter you received will indicate which memberships have a missing certification for you.

What if I have already provided this information?

In some cases, the certification may have been previously obtained, but unfortunately not entered correctly into our system. We’re sorry if this has happened, we’re working hard to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Where can I find more information about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and Common Reporting Standard?

To find out more you can visit the ATO’s website.

You can also see the US State Department’s Joint FATCA frequently asked questions (FAQs)

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If you have any questions and would like to talk to us today, tap here for live assistance.