IEIM404840 - Charities: Due diligence: Pre-existing accounts

IEIM404840: Charities: Due diligence: Pre-existing accounts

It is anticipated that most of a charity’s Financial Accounts will be ‘new’ accounts for the purposes of due diligence; this section of the guidance will only apply where a charity had debt or equity interests in existence at 31 December 2015, immediately before the CRS came into effect. This is most likely to be where a charitable company has debt or equity interest holders, or where a trust, foundation or similar arrangement has existing grants with ongoing instalments at the relevant dates; and/or where an equity interest is held by a settlor of the trust or foundation.

Where a charity has such accounts it should consult the detailed guidance [see IEIM402640] for individual accounts and [see IEIM403240] for entity accounts.

The pre-existing account due diligence requirements rely on a review of the existing records that the Financial Institution maintains, to see whether there are indicia that the individual or entity is tax resident in a reportable jurisdiction. It is recognised that charities are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as most other Financial Institutions, and so may not have all of the records referred to in the due diligence procedures. In carrying out indicia searches the charity should review the records that it has maintained; it is not required to contact account holders again to seek additional information, unless it chooses to cure indicia where there are conflicting indicia or indicia is believed to be incorrect [see IEIM402880].