AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

Why is Foundation Life asking for this information?

Under the AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) standard, we are required to determine in which overseas countries, if any, our customers are ‘tax residents’. If you are a tax resident outside of New Zealand we need to give the Inland Revenue this information, along with other information about your policies with us. Inland Revenue may share this information with overseas tax authorities.

What information will I need to provide to Foundation Life?

If you have been sent a letter, we will need to know the information requested in the self-certification document. This includes any countries other than New Zealand that you are a tax resident of, your TIN, your residential address, and birth date.

What is a TIN?

The term ‘TIN’ means ‘Tax Identification Number’. A TIN is a unique combination of letters and/or numbers assigned by a country to an individual or an entity and used to identify the individual or entity for the purposes of administering the tax laws of that country. In New Zealand, this is referred to as your IRD number. Further details of acceptable TINs can be found on the OECD website.
Some countries don’t issue a TIN. However, these countries often utilise some other high integrity number with an equivalent level of identification (a ‘functional equivalent’). Examples of that type of number include, for individuals, a social security/insurance number, citizen/personal identification/service code/number, and resident registration number.

What if I don’t have a TIN (or a functional equivalent)?

There may be situations where you are a tax resident in another country but don’t have a TIN. Some countries don’t issue their residents with a tax number, while some countries don’t require their residents to disclose their tax identification number. You can check the OECD website for more information.
Please tick which category applies to your situation; page 2 of form under ‘Country of tax residence’.

What is a tax resident?

The tax resident definition varies from country to country. We don’t provide personalised advice on this. Each country / jurisdiction has its own rules for defining tax residence. Many jurisdictions have provided information on their individual and entity tax residency rules on the OECD website.
Generally, a person or entity will be resident for tax purposes in a jurisdiction if, under the local laws (including tax conventions), they pay or should be paying tax there, by reason of their domicile, residence, place of management or incorporation, or any other criterion of a similar nature, and not only from sources in that jurisdiction.
For additional information on tax residence, please talk to your tax adviser or refer to the OECD website.

How can I provide Foundation Life with this information?

If you are an existing policy owner you can provide your individual self-certification by filling out the form sent to you in the post. Your response can be returned by post to P O Box 590, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.

Can I return my form by email?

We recommend that you return your form by post. The reason for this is due to the cyber security risks associated with returning your form by email. The form contains personal identifying information which could potentially be intercepted by hackers or scammers so we would recommend that the form is returned by post. If you choose to return your information by email the privacy risk is assumed by yourself.

Who can provide this information for me?

Policy owners must provide their own overseas tax information to Foundation Life.

What happens if I provide FLNZ with incorrect information?

The Inland Revenue is able to penalise anyone who provides false or misleading information, fails to provide information, or fails to provide an update if there is a material change to the information the person has previously provided to us. This includes civil penalties of $1,000. Criminal penalties can also apply for knowledge offences.
These penalties will help to ensure the AEOI regime is effective. Other countries that are implementing the AEOI have similar provisions in place.

I haven’t heard the term CRS - what is this?

The CRS is the Common Reporting Standard. This was developed by the OECD to combat global tax evasion and is effective in New Zealand from 1 July 2017. The CRS requires certain New Zealand Financial institutions to collect specific information about customers, including their countries of tax residence. This information is referred to as a customer self-certification. If a customer is a tax resident of a country other than New Zealand, Foundation Life is legally obliged to pass information about them and their financial accounts to Inland Revenue. Inland Revenue may then pass this information on to the relevant overseas tax authorities.

I responded to you last year, why are you contacting me again?

It may be that the TIN you supplied doesn’t appear to match what your tax resident country uses as a TIN. If this is the case, your letter will outline what your country’s TIN is called and the format we expect it to be in.
It may be that we have not received or noted your response correctly. We apologise if this is the case and would appreciate you taking the time to return your form.
I am living in New Zealand why do I need to fill out this form?
While you have returned to New Zealand you may still be required to supply tax information to your previous country of residence. If this is the case, we still need your overseas TIN number.
If you have returned to New Zealand permanently and are only tax resident in New Zealand, we still need to know so we can update our records.

I am in the process of surrendering my policy / My policy is maturing so why should I return this information?

We are required to send a snapshot of our overseas clients as at 31 March each year. As your policy was not paid out as at 31 March we are still required to collect this information.