Singapore legislation
Regulation 9
of Income Tax (International Tax Compliance Agreements) (United States of America) Regulations 2015
Regulation 9
Identification obligation
Subregulation 1
In relation to all financial accounts which a reporting Singaporean financial institution maintains, the institution must establish and maintain arrangements that are designed to identify U.S. reportable accounts.
Subregulation 1A
Paragraph (1) does not apply on or after 1 January 2021.
Subregulation 2
The institution is treated as having complied with paragraph (1) only if —
the arrangements meet the due diligence requirements set out in Annex I to the Agreement; and
where those requirements require anything to be obtained of any transaction, the institution also keeps all information that is needed to explain and reconstruct the transaction.
Subregulation 3
The institution must ensure that all evidence obtained in accordance with the Agreement together with any information referred to in paragraph (2)(b), or a record of the steps taken in accordance with the Agreement, in relation to any financial account is kept for —
in the case of any evidence or record that relates to any information which identifies the account holder, any document establishing a business relation with the account holder or any correspondence with the account holder, a period of 5 years after the termination of the business relation with the customer; or
in the case of any evidence or record that relates to any transaction, or of any information referred to in paragraph (2)(b), a period of 5 years after the completion of the transaction.
Subregulation 4
A breach of paragraph (1) or (3) is an offence for the purposes of section 105M of the Act.
Subregulation 5
An investment entity referred to in regulation 7(1)(e) need not comply with paragraph (1) in relation to a U.S. reportable account that is maintained for units in a collective investment scheme that are listed for quotation on an approved exchange, if the approved exchange itself complies with that paragraph in relation to that account.
Subregulation 6
For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a) —
it may be assumed that the permission referred to in paragraph H of Section VI of Annex I to the Agreement has been given; and
a reporting Singaporean financial institution may make the election referred to in each of the following provisions of Annex I to the Agreement:
paragraph A of section II;
paragraph A of section III;
paragraph A of section IV;
paragraph A of section V.
Subregulation 7
A reporting Singaporean financial institution may rely on a third party to carry out its obligations referred to in paragraphs (1) and (3), to the extent provided in the U.S. Regulations Relating to Information Reporting by Foreign Financial Institutions and Withholding on Certain Payments to Foreign Financial Institutions and Other Foreign Entities, TD 9657, 79 FR 12812, issued on 6 March 2014 and corrected on 1 July 2014 and 18 November 2014.
Subregulation 8
To avoid doubt, when a reporting Singaporean financial institution relies on a third party to carry out its obligations under paragraph (7) —
paragraph (2) remains applicable; and
the reporting Singaporean financial institution remains responsible for compliance with those obligations.