Hong Kong: Hong Kong commits to the Common Reporting Standard

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Hong Kong: Hong Kong commits to the Common Reporting Standard

lau.jpg

bowdern.jpg

Ayesha Lau


Darren Bowdern

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax (the Common Reporting Standard (CRS)), which is intended to facilitate the automatic exchange of financial information, was approved by the G20 finance ministers and Central Bank governors at their meeting in Cairns, Australia on September 20-21 2014. Shortly before that, in an announcement on September 15 2015, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor KC Chan, committed Hong Kong to implementing the CRS.

Existing legislation in Hong Kong only provides for exchange of information on a request basis and the adoption and implementation of the CRS will require amending legislation. With this in mind, the secretary further announced that the HKSAR Government would soon engage stakeholders, address policy and legal issues, and ultimately seek the Legislative Council's approval for the legislation required to implement the new global standard for the automatic exchange of information.

This approach is similar to that adopted by the government when it introduced legislation in 2013 enabling Hong Kong to enter into standalone tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs). In this instance, the consultation process lasted around 12 months and included consultations with business and industry bodies, as well as legal, financial and accountancy representative groups.

The government has indicated that it expects legislation to allow for the automatic exchange of information under the CRS to be enacted during 2016 with the first exchanges of information expected in 2018.

In a related development, Macau has announced that, like Hong Kong, it will shortly commence legislative measures to amend its domestic law so it is able to fully comply with the CRS.

Ayesha Lau (ayesha.lau@kpmg.com) and Darren Bowdern (darren.bowdern@kpmg.com)

KPMG

Tel: +852 2826 8028 & +852 2826 7166

Website: www.kpmg.com/sg

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

If the Reform leader becomes UK prime minister then he may follow the direction of the US in at least one significant way
Trump declared a new national emergency in issuing the order; in other news, Grant Thornton Germany is up for sale and the subject of interest from both its UK and US counterparts
The judgment, which saw Denmark's Supreme Court rely on OECD TP guidance, sets aside more than 15 years of consistent administrative practice, experts have told ITR
Belgium’s new coalition government has gone ahead with a new exit tax regime that could land it in the courts
Brazil’s government has not officially framed the bill as a countermeasure amid trade tensions with the US, but the move is being considered as part of Brazil’s strategic response, one expert tells ITR
Understanding India’s income tax landscape can help charities ensure compliance, optimise tax benefits, and enhance their impact, writes Raghav Bajaj of Khaitan & Co
Tax advisers in Brazil are rising above the country’s notoriously complex tax system to deliver high-quality advisory services, ITR’s exclusive in-house data reveals
ITR’s data has highlighted the US firm’s ambition to become America’s ‘premier’ tax player via a concerted partner recruitment strategy
Jaap Zwaan’s arrival continues a recent streak of A&M Tax investing in the region; in other news, the US and Japan struck a deal that significantly lowered tariff rates
In a world where international tax concepts rely on human activity, Leonard Wagenaar poses existential questions about the future of such ideas when AI is ever-present
Gift this article