IEIM401505 | Financial Accounts: Introduction

Financial Accounts: Introduction

A financial account is an account maintained by a Financial Institution. Only accounts that fall within any of the 5 categories of financial account defined by the automatic exchange of information agreements need to be reviewed. Where such an account is held by a Reportable Person [see IEIM402010] it becomes a Reportable Account [see IEIM401520].

The 5 categories of financial account that need to be reviewed are:

Certain financial accounts are seen to be low-risk of being used to evade tax and are specifically excluded from needing to be reviewed. Details of these excluded accounts are at [see IEIM401720].

The definition of a financial account does not extend to shareholdings on an issuer’s share register nor debenture/loan stock holdings (including shareholdings which have been the subject of an acquisition, as a result of which the original share register no longer exists). However shareholdings and loan/debenture stock holdings by a Financial Institution can be ‘financial instruments/contracts’ and are reportable if held in a Custodial Account.

For guidance on the treatment of digitally issued or tokenised Financial Assets, see IEIM8000220.