Popular Revolut app now collecting users’ tax information

The digital banking alternative Revolut has started requesting users of its mobile phone app to provide their tax residence details and taxpayer identification numbers, leaving clients wondering whether their transactions will be transmitted to the Maltese authorities.

The answer is simply, yes.

The OECD’s CRS (Common Reporting Standard) and the American FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) are the standards of reference which regulate financial institutions.

Now Revolut is required to obtain self-certification from customers on also their residencies, and a taxpayer identification number (TIN) with respect to each tax residency.

The popular Revolut app includes a pre-paid debit card from MasterCard or VISA, and provides users with currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments.

Since launching its services in Malta in September 2018, over 190,000 have signed up to the service, making Malta the country with the company’s biggest market penetration yet. As of February, customers are also able to upgrade to Revolut Bank for secured deposits.

Like all other financial institutions, Revolut is now required by law to collect and report information on clients’ tax residencies and account balances under the OECD’s Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, an international consensus on automatic exchange of tax information.

One is typically considered a tax resident in countries where they pay taxes or are physically present for at least six months of a year. The TIN in the case of Malta is the I.D. number.
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