Pursuant to an industry advisory (the "Advisory") dated 13 April 2017, the Department for International Tax Cooperation ("DITC") has made certain important announcements with respect to Cayman Islands Financial Institutions ("Cayman FIs") complying with their Automatic Exchange of Information ("AEOI") obligations.

Some of the key points to note are as follows:

(a) To be in line with CRS, notification and reporting deadlines for US FATCA ("FATCA") with respect to the calendar year 2016 have been extended to 30 June 2017 and 31 July 2017, respectively. This includes Cayman FIs correcting any errors with respect to any previous reports filed under FATCA by 31 July 2017.

(b) The list of CRS Reportable Jurisdictions for 2017 has been updated to include Jersey. A provisional list of CRS Reportable Jurisdictions for reporting in 2018 has also been published.

(c) Liquidating Cayman FIs that are still in existence in 2017 are required to comply with CRS with respect to the 2016 and 2017 reporting periods. For the 2017 part-year reporting period the liquidator must have regard to the 2017 and 2018 CRS Reportable Jurisdiction list.

(d) The AEOI Portal is set to open for FATCA and CRS notification purposes on 10 May 2017 with reports under each regime being able to be filed from 12 June 2017.

(e) An updated AEOI Portal User Guide will be available on the DITC website by early May.

(f) There are specific reporting requirements for UK CDOT with respect to the 2016 reporting year only which shall be filed as part of a single CRS file and include (i) all information required to be reported under UK CDOT and (ii) any information reportable under CRS with respect to the UK as a Reportable Jurisdiction not already covered by (i). From 2018, reporting on UK tax residents for the 2017 calendar year will be under CRS only. This is further addressed in the updated Guidance Notes (see further below).

(g) Cayman FIs and trustees of Trustee Documented Trusts are reminded of the requirement under CDOT to have completed all due diligence and remediation of pre-existing accounts (i.e. accounts maintained as of 30 June 2014) by 30 June 2016.

(h) Version 2.0 of the Cayman Islands CRS Guidance Notes has been finalised with a copy accompanying the Advisory. The Guidance Notes address a number of key areas of uncertainty including with respect to the treatment of widely held trust type collective investment vehicles in CRS non-participating jurisdictions into which category US tax exempt account holders will typically fall. The Guidance Notes also re-confirm that all Cayman FIs must implement and adopt written policies and procedures to demonstrate how they are going to comply with CRS. Please see our previous update for a more detailed discussion on the draft Guidance Notes that were circulated for industry comment.

(i) Reporting of Savings Income Information for EUSD purposes is no longer required as this information will be covered by reporting under CRS.

(j) It is expected that New Individual and Entity self-certification forms will be available on the DITC websites for use by Cayman FIs shortly.

For further information or advice on the application of the AEOI regimes, please liaise with your usual Maples and Calder or MaplesFS contact, or any one of our AEOI experts listed above.

Further information about the AEOI regimes can be found on our dedicated FATCA and CRS webpage.