Canadian in Greece - Opening up Bank Account and asked for Tax forms in Canada?

[canadianplainview]

Hi folks! I'm relatively new user, been lurking for a while and getting up to speed with everything.

I've tried to open up a bank account here in Greece while I'm on Vacation, and the bank staff asked me to bring in copies of my tax forms.

If I understand correctly, this is so that they can inform Canada (I'm Canadian citizen) about the account via CRS protocols?

 

[Martin Everson]

More likely its for due diligence. However I would not give a bank your tax return unless your applying for credit products. Thats invasive as they are a private company and not the government.

 

[canadianplainview]

> More likely its for due diligence

How do you mean? What would be one way to find out if the Greek bank intends on reporting to the CRA? I wouldn't want to flat out ask and red flag myself.

 

[Sols]

Both Greece and Canada are signatories to CRS and exchange information, so the bank in Greece will want to be confident that you are giving them your true Canadian tax ID in order for them to report information about your account to the CRA.

 

[Martin Everson]

@canadianplainview Are you trying to avoid CRS by opening an account in Greece?

If so then no chance. As Sols said they will report your account as both are CRS countries.

 

[Praetorian]

When a bank asks for your tax documentation it's because they had previous clients give them false tax IDs to try to bypass CRS reporting. Now banks are more careful and will ask for real documents proving your tax ID is real. Not all banks do this though, only the ones that had bad experiences and want to avoid trouble. So yes, if they asked, it's 100% for your tax ID so they can go the reporting by the book, and i wouldn't trust greek banks to store large sums of money, let alone bypass CRS.

 

[treasureinyou]

maybe just use transferwise, revolut etc instead of a 'real' bank account?