The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore ("IRAS") and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs ("HMRC") signed a Competent Authority Agreement ("Agreement") on the automatic exchange of financial account information ("AEOI") based on the Common Reporting Standard ("CRS") today.

The CRS is an internationally agreed standard for AEOI, endorsed by OECD and Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes ("GF"). More than 100 jurisdictions have endorsed the CRS and will commence AEOI in either 2017 or 2018.

As announced on 3 Nov 2014, Singapore will commence AEOI under the CRS in 2018. Such exchanges will be carried out on a bilateral basis with jurisdictions with whom Singapore has signed Agreements. This will be subject to the following conditions:

a) First, there is a level playing field among all major financial centres to minimise regulatory arbitrage.

b) Second, we will only engage in AEOI with jurisdictions that have robust framework of law, and can ensure the confidentiality of information exchanged and prevent its unauthorised use.

c) Thirdly, there is full reciprocity with AEOI partners in terms of information exchanged.

Singapore and the United Kingdom will commence AEOI under the CRS by September 2018. Under the Agreement, IRAS will automatically exchange with the HMRC, financial account information of accounts in Singapore held by United Kingdom tax residents while the HMRC will automatically exchange with IRAS, financial account information of accounts in the United Kingdom held by Singapore tax residents. 

The full details of the CRS is available here. 

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore