On July 1, 2014 Communication “A” 5588 (the “Communication”) issued by the Central Bank of Argentina (“BCRA”) was published in the Official Gazette. The Communication extends and regulates the actions of tax cooperation between Argentina and other countries previously set forth in Communication “A” 5581 issued by the BCRA.
Through the Communication the BCRA updated the regulatory framework regarding “Checking accounts in cooperative credits”, “Saving deposits, bank accounts for payment of wages and universal and specific charge fee accounts”, “Terms deposits and investments”, “Rules on checking accounts”.
The Communication states that financial institutions should devise measures to identify account holders considering the standard of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the United States of America.
For this purpose, financial institutions must include in the files of their clients that are affected by FATCA and the OECD Standard, regarding individuals’ information, including nationality, place and date of birth, country of tax residence, tax identification number and address, and relevant supporting documentation.
In the case of legal persons and other entities, the corresponding information shall include country of tax residence, and tax identification number and address in such country.
The Communication sets that financial entities must comply with the banking secrecy duties set forth in Section 39 of Financial Entities Lay No. 21.526, as amended, and Section 5, subsection 2.e) of Personal Data Protection Law No. 25.326, as amended.
Financial entities must submit all information regarding reached clients before the Argentine Tax Authority, in accordance with the rules to be issued by such Authority.
The Communication came into force on May 13, 2014.
