Reporting of tax residence information

We ask you to provide the self-certificate of tax residence in the following instances:

• We need a confirmation of your business's tax residence to provide specific products or services
• Information is indicating that your business or a controlling person in the business is tax resident in another country than the one in which we serve you as a customer
• We are missing confirmation of the tax residence of your business

Generally, a business is tax resident in the country in which it is incorporated and/or where the business’s management is physically located. This can vary depending on local regulations and applicable double tax treaties.

As a rule of thumb, tax residence is not determined based on a tax liability such as property tax, stamp duties or payroll tax. This is rather a limited tax liability, and it is not the information we need.

As a bank, we are required to identify the tax residence of our customers and determine whether they are tax resident or incorporated in another country than the one in which we serve them. This includes obtaining a taxpayer identification number (TIN) for each country where the business is resident for tax purposes.

We therefore require all new customers to provide us with this information, and we may also contact existing customers if their information needs to be updated or supplemented.

We report the name, address, and Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) of the business and its beneficial or controlling persons if required. We also report information about account numbers, account balances and interest and dividend payments.

All financial institutions are required to collect and report basic information about their customers (name, address, taxpayer identification number, etc.) as well as account and payment information (balances, dividends/interests, gross proceeds, etc.) to the local tax authorities. The local tax authorities exchange this information with the tax authorities of the customer's tax residence.

An active non-financial entity is a business where

1. more than 50% of its gross income is non-passive, such as income from the sale of goods or services, and
2. more than 50% of its assets are non-passive, such as assets attributed to the sale of goods or services (for instance, a hairdresser, a restaurant or a consultancy).

Passive income is typically any income other than income from active trade and business. This includes dividends and interest, but it can also be rent and royalties, payouts on life insurance policies, certain other insurance payouts, profits from the sale of assets that generate a passive income, exchange rate gains and profits from derivatives.

Active non-financial entities also include:

• Listed, non-financial companies – a listed company or a subsidiary of a listed company
• Government entities and international organisations and companies owned exclusively by government entities
• Religious, charitable, scientific, artistic and cultural entities, or entities established for educational purposes that are exempt from income tax in their home country
• Holding companies – companies that only own subsidiaries that are non-financial entities (own non-financial institutions)
• Start-up businesses – businesses in the start-up phase that do not yet run any business (the first 2 years)
• Businesses under liquidation or in bankruptcy
• Finance businesses – businesses that deal with financing within groups where no entity is engaged in business as a financial institution.

A passive entity is a business that is neither a financial institution nor an active non-financial entity. This means that:

• Usually, more than 50% of the business’s income can be attributed to, for instance, interest, dividends and return on investment.
• The business's income will primarily derive from investments in securities, financial investments or returns on deposits.

Examples of passive non-financial entities are financial holding companies, private investment companies and money tanks.

Passive income is typically any income other than income from active trade and business. This includes dividends and interest, but it can also be rent and royalties, payouts on life insurance policies, certain other insurance payouts, profits from the sale of assets that generate a passive income, exchange rate gains and profits from derivatives.