Luxembourg: CRS law (DAC 2) is enacted
A law implementing the common reporting standard (CRS) in Luxembourg law has been enacted. The law was published on 24 December 2015. Accordingly, the CRS measures for the automatic exchange of financial account information in the field of taxation are enacted as of the end of 2015.
The CRS law transposes into national law the Council Directive 2014/107/UE of 9 December 2014, amending Directive 2011/16/EU regarding the mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation (this is referred to as the “DAC 2”). The DAC 2 provides that EU Member States require their financial institutions to implement reporting and due diligence rules consistent with those set out in the common reporting standard (CRS) developed by the OECD.
A Grand-Ducal decree is expected in the near future to define certain items such as:
- The lists of “excluded accounts”
- “Nonreporting financial institutions”
- Jurisdictions considered to be “participating jurisdictions” from a Luxembourg perspective
The list of jurisdictions considered to be “reportable jurisdictions” by Luxembourg is expected to be published later during the year.
The Luxembourg tax authorities (Administration des Contributions Directes) is now expected to issue an initial administrative circular providing guidelines to Luxembourg financial institutions on the CRS implementation in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg has committed to implement the automatic exchange on financial account information as from year 2017 for the period relating to 2016.
