Residency information request from Barclays Bank

Can a residency information request letter from Barclays be ignored

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Client has received a residency information request together with copious forms to fill in.

This is clearly all part of HMRCs campaign to round up information about people's potential foreign income.

They ask for a TIN (tax identification reference). What is this? Is it just the UTR?

This client runs a small cafe has never worked abroad never lived abroad. Do they have to fill it in and return it?

Replies (7)

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By Marion Hayes
05th Dec 2017 10:37

I think that a tin number is the American tax reference so I am guessing that the forms are to do with the FATCA provisions - is your client a Trustee or beneficiary, have stock market investments, or anything else which would be reportable under these provisions that are managed by Barclays?

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Replying to Marion Hayes:
By Ruddles
05th Dec 2017 10:55

Almost certainly FATCA. We've been finding that clients of all shapes and sizes, but most with nothing 'reportable', are being asked by their banks to complete the forms. They're actually nowhere near as complicated as they first appear to be - provided that, as in most cases, the entity is an "active non-financial entity" so that very little information needs to be given.

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By Openhouse
05th Dec 2017 13:42

Thank you for the feedback. No the client has no complex arrangements at all. He has lived in UK all his life and just runs a small cafe with his wife. No US connections at all! Where they ask for a TIN number should they just put the UTR in there or would that confuse the Bank?

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Replying to Openhouse:
By Ruddles
05th Dec 2017 13:54

TIN = UTR

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By David Heaton
05th Dec 2017 14:41

It's not an HMRC campaign, it's compliance by the banks with the new Common Reporting Standard by which information is exchanged automatically across tax jurisdictions by the respective authorities - it's a legal obligation imposed on the banks.

If the bank thinks a customer is a 'relevant person', it has to check tax residency annually and make a report to HMRC. The bank may have made a mistake in thinking that your client is a relevant person, because it should ordinarily only request a 'TIN'/UTR if it knows the customer has an account or investments overseas, or is resident overseas. On the other hand, it has a duty to check that none of the information it needs is missing or incomplete, which may explain the letter. If the client has no financial accounts or investments overseas, isn't making transfers of cash to an overseas account, doesn't have a foreign holiday home or PO Box address, a call to the bank to confirm this should be enough.

Try googling 'Common Reporting Standard' for more information.

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By Marbrisa
03rd Dec 2019 20:53

I have received a letter from Barclays Bank in the UK, I live in the US. I was a UK citizen but changed my nationality a number of years ago. My British pension goes into my UK Barclays Account. I have received a form to fill out asking for a TIN number I do not know what this is? The form is CRS & FATCA Individual form. I always leave my Barclays account in the UK and don't use it unless Iam over there visiting family. Am I going to have to pay tax? Please advise.

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