Cayman AEOI Portal Going Offline June 1; Reporting Deadline Effectively Extended to July 31

The Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (“DITC”) has announced that the Cayman AEOI Portal (for Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) and US FATCA reporting) will be taken offline on Friday, June 1, 2018, at 12:00 noon.

The statutory deadline for 2017 CRS and US FATCA reports remains May 31, 2018.  The DITC intends for the portal to reopen on June 15, 2018, and that it will remain open until August 31, 2018.  However, the DITC has advised that completion of 2017 CRS and US FATCA reporting obligations on or before July 31, 2018 will not result in compliance measures being taken for late filing and therefore will not result in adverse consequences, enforcement measures or penalties.  Reporting submitted after July 31, 2018, may be subject to compliance reviews by the DITC.

As a reminder, the Cayman Islands legislation implementing CRS included a requirement for Cayman Islands financial institutions (such as hedge funds) to adopt written policies and procedures with respect to CRS.  If your fund has not adopted written policies and procedures for CRS, you should do so.

Additionally, for purposes of CRS,  the threshold for a “Controlling Person” in respect of an entity is direct or indirect ownership or control of 10% or more of the shares or voting rights (previously the threshold was 25%).  Funds must remediate any affected accounts by December 31, 2018, so that they are able to report on Controlling Persons under CRS in 2019 based on the 10% threshold.  The threshold for a “Controlling Person” for US FATCA purposes remains at 25%.  Self-certification forms (often included with subscription documents) should also be updated to reflect the 10% controlling person threshold for CRS.

If you have any questions regarding the above or any other questions regarding CRS and FATCA, please contact your primary Kleinberg Kaplan attorney or one of the members of our Tax Department.