Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This section amends section 895 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which was introduced in 1992 to ensure all foreign accounts opened by Irish-resident individuals were reported to the Revenue Commissioners in the year in which the foreign account was opened. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to remove the reporting obligation for individuals who would otherwise not be required to file any tax return with Revenue in that year. Instead, reliance will be placed on the information Revenue already receives from financial institutions about such account openings under international reporting arrangements. Such arrangements are provided for under the OECD common reporting standard, CRS, the EU directive on administrative co-operation 2, DAC 2, and the US Financial Account Tax Compliance Act, FATCA. However, it should be noted that the reporting obligation will remain for any individual who is required to file a tax return in the year the foreign account is opened and any individual who opens a foreign account in a non-co-operative jurisdiction or in a non-DAC 2, CRS or FATCA jurisdiction. No change in reporting obligations is proposed in respect of foreign accounts opened by companies. This amendment will balance the collection of the necessary information with the limited risk associated with removing the administrative burden on certain taxpayers who do not have an obligation to file a return with Revenue in any given year.