Foreign Tax Resident Reporting

Thanks to new Federal Government requirements, all Australian financial institutions now have to collect tax residency information from their customers. It’s all part of a new global standard on the automatic exchange of financial account information between countries. Tax authorities will exchange this information to help make sure everyone pays the right amount of tax.

As part of this, Heritage Bank is required by law to collect foreign tax residency information for reporting to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These laws implement automatic exchange of information with:

• The United States (US) under a system known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). This is for US citizens and tax residents only and applies from 1 July 2014.
• Other countries under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The CRS applies to all foreign tax residents from 1 July 2017.

What does this mean for you?

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

How do I confirm my residency status for tax purposes?

• All new customers will be required to provide information about their tax residence when applying to open an account.
•  Existing Heritage customers may be required to provide information about their tax residence when requested by us.

Where can I get further information?

Please refer to the ATO website for more details.