Offshore company bank is asking for tax residency and TIN

[Mike Forman]

We have a Seychelles company with a HK bank account.
Now the bank is asking us information of the tax residency and provide the TIN number.

Since this company has no tax residency and they require this information what should we fill in? If we indicate the tax residency is in HK there will be no exchange of information but still a TIN will have to be provided (which is HK BR number, which this company doesnt have).

Any ideas?

 

[JohnLocke]

Have you asked your agent if he is able to help with that request?

The agent that was able to open a HK bank account for your Seychelles company should be able to sort this out somehow.

 

[Lejla]

First of all I agree with the Admin! Second of all try to get, if it's even possible, Tax Exemption Certificate from the Seychells...

 

[Martin Everson]

We have a Seychelles company with a HK bank account.
Now the bank is asking us information of the tax residency and provide the TIN number.

That bank seems late to the party. Every bank globally is expected to have done this already as part of being a signatory to CRS otherwise how could CRS be enforced.

Would like also to know the legal solution to this .

 

[Lejla]

Tax Exemption Certificate?

 

[fshore]

Use company number as tax number and country Seychelles.

 

[JohnLocke]

Use company number as tax number and country Seychelles.

This may actually work if they don't check what you get.

 

[Martin Everson]

Use company number as tax number and country Seychelles.

Yes he could do this in theory . He can put any number in as they don't check if they have asked you for self certification. However that wouldn't be legal and not sure what will happen in Seychelles once they get handed the tax information during the CRS exchange. Best case is they will just throw info in the bin as its a non-resident IBC company. Worse case is he will be in violation of Seychelles company laws or Seychelles will fine or tax his company like a local company as you declared your Seychelles offshore IBC company as tax resident in Seychelles to a foreign tax authority . Seychelles is not a tax free country. The local corporate tax rate is around 33% . Could end up not going too good.

 

[Mike Forman]

This account exists already for a while, before it was easy to open bank accounts for offshore IBC.
I wouldnt be so sure that banks dont checkt the TIN number, they are not that stupid. Seychelles provide a seperate TIN number which is not the registraton number. The bank has the business registration number and banks check for sure the format of the number, such as in HK a business has to enter its BR number, personal their HKID number.

Only Australia, Cayman, BVI and Bermuda dont provide TIN numbers

This info will be exchanged and either taxed or come back to the bank or governement as invalid

 

[Mike Forman]

I have found some more info which is still confusing. Seychelles has a TIN number which is a 9 digit number which is randomly generated by an algorithm which also ensures that it meets a checksum requirement. so they can verify it. Nonetheless Seychelles indicates that IBC are not issued with a TIN number.

Furthermore, a clarification needs to be brought with regards to the International Business Companies (IBC) incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2016, Foundations as established under the Foundation Act, 2003 and Trust established under the International Trust Act, 1994. These persons are by law exempted from tax in the Seychelles and consequently are not issued with a TIN by the Seychelles Revenue Commission. These persons are issued with incorporation or registration numbers allocated to them by the Financial Services Authority. That would be the number generally used to identify them in Seychelles by the agencies which will need to.

Not issued with a TIN
(1) International Business Companies (IBC) incorporated under International Business Companies Act 2016
(2) Foundations established under Foundation Act 2003
(3) Trust established under International Trust Act 1994


HK IRD states in their CRS exchange info :

Some jurisdictions do not issue a TIN, or do not issue a TIN to all residents, and where no TIN has been issued there will be nothing to report unless they use other high integrity numbers with an equivalent level of identification.

For entities, jurisdictions may use a business/company registration code or number where no TIN has been issued.

Some jurisdictions that issue TINs have domestic law that does not require the collection of the TIN for domestic reporting purposes. In such cases the reporting financial institution is not required to collect the TIN for those jurisdictions.


So perhaps just the BR number would be enough, still looking for people who have more experience with this

 

[Martin Everson]

As someone with 117 bank accounts the bank checks nothing. An input mask is the best I have seen that requires it in a format for a certain country. It is daft to suggest a bank or even tax authority has access to a foreign government tax system to verify it. It does not even work that way with passport verification.

 

[Mike Forman]

They will indeed just check the format, more they cant check. They dont have access to foreign systems but just as with bank cards, some countries added a checksum in there TIN, as in this case Seychelles does.
The bank cannot check if the number exists but at least the format/checksum of the number. I know they do for HK tax residents.

 

[John Andrews]

OP have you managed to solve this issue?

text text

 

[aquarius]

This seems clear enough:

HK IRD states in their CRS exchange info :

Some jurisdictions do not issue a TIN, or do not issue a TIN to all residents, and where no TIN has been issued there will be nothing to report unless they use other high integrity numbers with an equivalent level of identification.

For entities, jurisdictions may use a business/company registration code or number where no TIN has been issued.

Some jurisdictions that issue TINs have domestic law that does not require the collection of the TIN for domestic reporting purposes. In such cases the reporting financial institution is not required to collect the TIN for those jurisdictions.