Foreign Tax Residents mailing – FAQs

Foreign tax residency is when you may be liable to pay tax in country(ies) other than Australia, irrespective of whether a tax return must be filed, or whether any tax is payable. We recognise customers can be a tax resident of more than one tax jurisdiction.

Information about how to work out your tax residency is available on the ATO website. The OECD Website also provides guidance from of over 100 countries about the tax residency rules applicable to that jurisdiction.

If you are a foreign tax resident, you are required to disclose certain information relating to your tax residency to us. We may then be required to provide that information to the ATO, depending on the type of accounts you hold and the balance of these accounts.

Individuals and Non-Individuals may be issued with a Tax Identification Number (TIN) or equivalent if you are a tax resident of another country. Although TIN is an international term, from country to country it can be referred to by a different local name and may vary in format. For example, Australia’s TIN equivalent is a Tax File Number (TFN).

If you’re unsure what your TIN equivalent and TIN format is, please refer to the OECD Website, the IRS website or Contact your Legal or Tax Advisor.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is US legislation that requires financial institutions and certain non-financial institutions that are foreign to the US to report information about US tax residents/citizens who have financial accounts.

The Australian Government has committed to sharing this information with the US Government to reduce tax evasion.

Australian Unity Bank is required to collect relevant information about US residents/citizens, including their TINs, and provide this information to the ATO. The ATO shares this information with the IRS under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) regime.

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is an international initiative by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a way to reduce offshore tax evasion and provide greater transparency in over 100 participating countries and jurisdictions. These obligations came into effect in Australia on 1 July 2017.

The CRS regime is the single global standard for the collection, reporting and exchange of financial account information on foreign tax residents, including US residents/citizens, who are also regulated under FATCA. Under the CRS, banks and other financial institutions collect and report financial account information about foreign tax resident status to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The ATO exchanges this information about foreign tax residents with their participating foreign tax authorities.

Australian Unity Bank is required to capture information about foreign residents/citizens and provide this information to the ATO.

Every Individual that is an Account Holder with Australian Unity Bank will need to complete our ‘Tax Residency Information form – Individuals’. For joint account holders, each individual account holder will need to complete the form.

Each entity that is an Account Holder will need to complete the ‘Tax Residency Information form – Entities’. You may also need to provide us with information about the controlling person(s) of the entity depending on your responses to the tax residency form.

Existing individuals and entities that are Account Holders may be contacted from time to time to confirm your tax residency status and to complete the applicable ‘Tax Residency Information form’. This is to establish whether your accounts need to be reported under the FATCA and CRS laws. You may also be contacted if there is information that has been provided by you to us that indicates that you may be a foreign tax resident.

Both forms are available for download here.

Applicants and existing customers seeking to open an account with us will generally be required to provide a self-declaration about their tax residency status as part of the application process. We will need this information in order to open the account(s). Failing to provide this information may result in delays in opening an account while we attempt to obtain this information from you.

For customers who have existing accounts, any change in your tax status and/or contact information where foreign indicia (such as a foreign address or phone number) is identified, may require an updated tax residency form to be completed by you. As part of our ongoing monitoring, we may initiate this process by sending you a notification by email, letter or talk to you about it over the phone. We ordinarily request that the relevant Tax Residency Information form is completed and returned to us within 30 days to avoid your account being suspended. Account suspension will mean that you will be unable to access your money and/or to close your account during the suspension period.

If based on the information that you have provided us, our records indicate that you may be a foreign tax resident, we may contact you in relation to on one or more of the following details below:

• If you have an overseas address (residential or postal);
• If you have an overseas telephone number or non-standard Australian formatted number on file;
• If you have a power of attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with an overseas address;
• If you have updated your contact information but not completed and returned your Tax Residency Information Form as previously requested;
• If our review has otherwise determined that you may be reportable for foreign tax residency; or
• If an already returned tax residency form is incomplete or unable to be accepted.

It is important that we have the most up-to-date and accurate information regarding your tax residency status. If you do not respond to our request to confirm your tax residency status, we will base our reporting to the ATO of your tax residency on the information we currently have. It is therefore important that we have been provided with the most accurate and current residency information. If you don’t provide the requested further information to us, under Australian Unity Bank Transaction, Savings and Investment Products Terms and Conditions, we can withhold funds, suspend or close your account(s).

If your account is closed during the required reporting period, we may still try to contact you in order to ensure we have accurate tax residency information at the time you held your accounts with us.

If you have provided information in relation to your tax residency status to the United States Government directly, you are still required to provide the Tax Residency Information form to us as Australian Unity Bank is governed by the AEOI separately.

All customers must provide information about their tax residency status.

Tax residency can also be linked to birthright/citizenship in the United States and can carry with you for life. Sometimes you may not be required to have lived or worked in the US to be considered a US Tax Resident.

Financial Institutions like Australian Unity Bank are required to collect tax residency information (including a TIN) about customers with US Indicia or declared US tax residents/citizen. If we do not receive this or the relevant documentary evidence, we will not be able to offer you a financial service.

Please use the Individual or Entity Tax Residency form to confirm this update in status. If you have supplied a tax file number (TFN) in the past, we will update your file to reflect your change in status. Overseas withholding tax will be applied to your accounts in alignment to your disclosure.

For some tax jurisdictions, TINs are not automatically issued and must be requested. You may also be in a situation where your country of tax residency does not issue a TIN at all. If you do not have a TIN, the relevant Tax Residency Information form or Application form will ask you to provide the tax resident country AND a reason in lieu of a TIN. We will verify this information against the OECD Tax information for that jurisdiction (if available) to determine whether we can accept your self-declaration. You may be asked to supply “Documentary Evidence” to support your reasoning.

Generally, entities other than individuals still need to complete the ‘Tax Residency Information Form – Entities’.

In order to accept the information you have provided regarding your tax residency status, Australian Unity Bank may request you to supply additional supporting evidence (Documentary Evidence) to validate the responses you have provided. If the requested Documentary Evidence is not supplied, you may continue to receive notifications or have your account suspended until the matter is resolved.

As each customer scenario is different, what you may be asked to provide may differ.

Depending on your circumstances Documentary Evidence may include:

• Copies of identification documents issued by an authorised government body (such as a valid passport, Drivers Licence);
• Corporate entity documents like a certificate of incorporation;
• A Loss of Nationality Certificate from the country you’re no longer a tax resident of;
• Sailing or Departure Permit for a country that you’re no longer a tax resident of.

For further information on what Documentary Evidence may be required / requested, please refer to:

• Australian Government| The Treasury: FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (see articles under sections Treaty Information and IGA Article 7 Notifications)
• OECD: Common Reporting Standard (see Annex I of the IGA including paragraph D of Section VI and Paragraph E(6) of section VIII of the CRS)

Yes, the Terms and Conditions of your account state that you are required to inform us of any change in circumstances within 30 days of this change. A change to your country of tax residency is a circumstance that we must be notified of because it affects your tax residency status. We require you to provide us with an updated Tax Residency Information form within 30 days of this change.

Our ongoing monitoring may also pick up possible changes in circumstances if you have not already notified us of them. Depending on your change in circumstance, we may ask you to supply Documentary Evidence to support your self-declaration or change in tax status.

Children under 18 years are not exempt from disclosing their foreign tax residency. If a parent or guardian who has an authority to operate the child account is completing the tax residency form questions on behalf of the child, the responses should represent the tax status of the child.

All customers need to provide their tax residency information when opening an account. If you have questions about your tax residence status you should contact the tax authority of your country of residence or seek advice from a tax agent or advisor.

Australian Unity Bank cannot provide tax advice. If you are unsure of your tax residency status or have specific questions about your tax residency, we suggest you seek advice from an independent tax agent or advisor. You can also visit the ATO website for further information or call their service line (for individual info) on 13 28 61.

Accidents happen, the form you may have previously completed may have been recently reviewed and we have identified something with the previous form as:

• incomplete;
• incorrect; or
• inconsistent between the form and your customer file that requires clarification.

It is important to know that the TIN’s structure and format must be provided in line with the tax authority of that country. If your form is unclear or does not match the correct structure or format, we will endeavour to contact you to recomplete your Tax Residency Information form. Format and structures of TIN’s for a specific country are available via the OECD Website.

Other reasons may be:

• As part of our ongoing reviews, we have identified a possible change in your circumstances since the last time you have completed the self-declaration form.
• That you hold a joint account with someone who has yet to complete their self-declaration.

You should respond truthfully. Penalties may apply (under local and other jurisdictions) if you provide false or misleading information. If you are unsure of your tax residency status or have specific questions about your tax residency, we suggest you seek advice from an independent tax agent or advisor as we are unable to provide tax advice. You can also visit the ATO website for further information.

If we don’t receive confirmation of your tax residency status within the timeframe requested. Under the Australian Unity Bank Transaction, Savings and Investment Products Terms and Conditions, we may:

• withhold funds you deposit into your accounts with us until correct and complete information has been supplied; or
• suspend or close your account if you fail to provide the required information.

If we’ve made a decision to close your account and funds remain in your account, these funds may become unclaimed moneys that are required to be reported to ASIC.

You can now digitally sign/acknowledge your form. If we identify any inconsistency in the information disclosed, we may contact you to clarify.

Australian Unity Bank is unable to provide you with tax advice. If you are unsure of your tax residency status or have specific questions about your tax residency, we suggest you seek advice from an independent tax agent or advisor You can also visit the www.ato.gov.au/ website for further information.

If we have closed or suspended your account, it will have been as a result of multiple attempts by us to get into contact with you request that you provide important information regarding your tax residency status. If you have not responded to these requests or have not provided the information within the timeframe requested, we may suspend or close your account/s under the Australian Unity Bank Transaction, Savings and Investment Products Terms and Conditions.

If your account remains suspended for more than 12 months, it may be subject to dormancy processes before being transferred to Unclaimed Monies. To resolve an account to gain access to funds and to stop it from going to dormancy or unclaimed monies, you may be required to complete outstanding tasks, such as providing us your tax residency status.

If you need to access funds in your account/s please call us immediately on 1300 790 740 (from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm AEST). If you are overseas you can contact us on +61 3 8682 7666.

Under section 69 of the Banking Act, we must submit an annual statement to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) detailing unclaimed monies for all Accounts with a balance of $500 or more that have been inactive for at least seven years. If your Account remains inactive for seven years or more, the funds will be transferred to ASIC, in which case you will have to apply to ASIC to retrieve the funds.

Refer to the ASIC Website for further information about Unclaimed Monies and how to make a claim for unclaimed monies.