From 1 July 2017 New Zealand financial institutions will be required to identify accounts held or controlled by foreign tax residents, and collect relevant information. This information will be reported to the Inland Revenue Department by 30 June each year.

IRD has begun an information campaign on the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) requirements, using the slogan "Sharing information to combat global tax evasion".

This includes a two-minute explanatory video which is aimed at account holders. Further information is available on the IRD website and also on a special set of Common Reporting Standards webpages.

Revenue Minister Judith Collins says AEOI rules require financial institutions to pass on more information from foreign tax residents with both pre-existing and new accounts. This is in preparation for the first international exchange of information which will take place next year.

“Inland Revenue will pass this information on to the relevant foreign tax authorities to make sure everyone’s paying the right amount of tax. Taxpayers’ privacy and data security are important concerns for Inland Revenue and information will be shared safely and securely," says Ms Collins.

“The information campaign targets foreign tax residents with accounts here but also New Zealanders with accounts overseas since their information may be shared with Inland Revenue by other jurisdictions. This means a New Zealand tax resident with a bank account overseas can expect to have their identity and details such as their balance information shared.”

KiwiSaver schemes will be exempt from the information exchange so savers’ account information won’t be shared.

The initial list of 58 jurisdictions Inland Revenue can share with will be announced shortly and will be added to over time as more countries put the appropriate confidentiality and data safeguards in place.