To enact the CRS into the laws of the Virgin Islands the Government of the Virgin Islands has made an amendment published on the 31st December, 2015 which is called the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2015 (“CRS law”). There are many similarities between the UK FATCA regime and the CRS which means that the BVI/UK FATCA regime is proposed to be subsumed into CRS by 2017.

As of 4 September, 2018 the Mutual Legal Assistance Act, 2003 has been amended to accommodate the recent changes to the CRS Law. See Link to Act no. 8 - Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) (Amendment) Act, 2018. 

There are currently over 90 jurisdictions that are committed to the implementation of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and over 60 jurisdictions have signed the multilateral Competent Authority Agreement. These Agreements provide the legal basis for automatic exchange of information for tax purposes in accordance with the CRS. 

Access the OECD List of Signatories to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA)
As an early adopter the BVI has agreed to exchange financial account information with the first group of participating jurisdictions under the CRS by September, 2017. 

BVI List of Participating Jurisdictions
Click here to access the self-certification forms for individuals and entities.

Important dates:

(a)  pre-existing Accounts are those that are open on 31 December 2015, with New Accounts being those opened on or after 1 January 2016; 

(b)  due diligence procedures for identifying high-value pre-existing individual accounts must be completed by 31 December 2016; 
(c)  due diligence procedures for identifying lower-value pre-existing individual accounts and entity accounts shall be completed by 31 December 2017; 
(d)  each Reporting FI that has reporting obligations for the 2016 calendar year will need to register with the ITA no later than 30 April 2017; and 
(e)  the first report to the ITA of Reportable Accounts is required by 31 May 2017. 

Access guidance notes for Common Reporting Standard CRS
Click here to access additional information on Common Reporting Standard CRS. 
BVI's List of Reportable Jurisdictions under the Common Reporting Standards