By Fiona Chandler From The Offshore Funds Blog

Don’t all rush at once with your XML files, but the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (TIA) confirmed last week that its automatic exchange of information (AEOI) portal  is now open again for notification and some reporting functions. Those fund administrators who have taken on the task of processing the notification and reporting obligations for Cayman funds are now busy making sure that the funds are properly registered on the portal so that they can file the relevant reports later in the Summer under the Cayman legislation implementing US FATCA[1] and the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (or CRS[2] as everyone knows it).

So, what are the key dates in 2017 for Cayman funds and AEOI?

Early May 2017	New AEOI portal user guide for CRS/US FATCA was published here
Mid May 2017	CRS and US FATCA notification/registration function now available on AEOI portal, including variation in reporting obligation, and US FATCA XML reporting
June 2017	Updated AEOI portal user guide available with detailed CRS user guidance
Mid June 2017	CRS reporting function available on AEOI portal
30 June 2017	CRS and US FATCA notification/registration deadline for Cayman financial institutions
31 July 2017	CRS and US FATCA reporting deadline for Cayman reporting financial institutions, for the 2016 reporting year
31 July 2017	Deadline for correcting any errors for US FATCA reports for 2014 and/or 2015
31 December 2017	The review of Pre-existing Lower Value Individual Accounts and Pre-existing Entity Accounts for CRS must be completed

What else should Cayman funds have done or be doing?

AEOI compliance should be on most Cayman fund and fund managers’ radars by now, so that various steps have already been taken to make sure the funds comply with their notification, reporting and ongoing requirements. These include:

• reviewing the fund’s existing documentation to make sure AEOI obligations are properly disclosed and the fund can get all the self certification and other documents it needs
• reviewing each fund’s AEOI written policies and procedures and making sure that the fund’s complying with them – this is made easier if the fund has delegated AEOI compliance to its administrator but funds still need written policies and procedures in place setting out how the delegation works
• registering on the portal, whether or not the fund has reporting obligations under AEOI legislation
• appointing an authorising person as well as a principal point of contact (PPOC) – previously Cayman funds had to appoint a PPOC as their main point of contact with the TIA for any queries. The TIA recently confirmed that funds now also need to appoint an authorising person (who can’t be the same person as the PPOC) who will be the only person who can tell the TIA that the PPOC has changed. So funds now need to make sure that they provide details of their authorising person on the portal, as part of their CRS notification this year

Much has changed or been updated in the World of Cayman AEOI recently, so we’ve updated ourGuide to AEOI for Cayman funds to help explain what funds need to do to comply with their notification, reporting and other ongoing AEOI obligations. If this all sounds like too many abbreviations and too much information to be filed and you’d like to discuss AEOI in person, just let one of our blog team know, we’d be happy to help!

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[1] US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

[2] OECD sponsored Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement and certain bilateral agreements or tax treaties regarding the common reporting standard on automatic exchange of information

For more on this story go to: http://offshorefundsblog.com/2017/06/02/cayman-aeoi-portal-re-opens-get-your-filings-ready/