In September 2013, in response to growing concerns about offshore tax evasion, G20 leaders announced an initiative to implement a new global Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (in short, Automatic Exchange of Information, or AEOI).

AEOI impose these obligations on jurisdictions and financial institutions (for AEOI purposes, known as reporting financial institutions):

• Collection – Reporting financial institutions must conduct due diligence of their account holders (including the controlling persons of certain account holders) to identify reportable accounts, and collect defined information for those reportable accounts.
• Reporting – Each reporting financial institution must report that information to their local tax administration.
• Exchange – Each tax administration must exchange that information with their jurisdiction’s tax treaty partners.

In order to meet our obligations under AEOI, InvestNow is required to collect and report certain information about the tax residence of our customers. If your tax residence is outside New Zealand, we may be legally obliged to pass on this information, and financial information about your accounts, to tax authorities in that jurisdiction.

For individuals, we need to know the tax residence and the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for the account holder (for children, this is the tax residence of the child rather than the parent/guardian(s) controlling the account).

For joint accounts, we need to know the tax residence and the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for each account holder.

For trusts, estates or companies, we need to know the tax residence and the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) for all ‘Controlling Persons’. For a trust, this includes:

• the settlor(s)
• the trustee(s)
• the protector(s), if any
• the beneficiary(ies)
• any other natural person(s) exercising ultimate effective control over the trust (including through a chain of control or ownership)
• plus any persons requiring authoriser status/rights.

For a company, this includes:

• the director(s)
• any shareholder(s) with an ownership interest of 25% or more in the company
• plus any persons requiring authoriser status/rights.

Please contact us on 0800 499 466 or contact@investnow.co.nz should you have any questions.