Entity Tax Residency Self-certification form

Step-by-step guidance for small community groups on how to fill in the CRS Tax Residency Self-certification form from your bank.

Why has the bank sent us this form?

When you open a new bank account for your group, the bank may send you a form called something like “CRS Entity Self-certification form” or “Tax Residency Self-certification Declaration form”. The form may mention something called the Common Reporting Standard or Automatic Exchange of Information.

Banks have to send a report every year to HMRC, giving details of any of their account holders who are registered for tax in another country. The purpose of this form is to find out whether your account needs to be included in their report.

The form looks very confusing, and not all banks use the same wording, but for small not-for-profit groups it is actually very quick to fill in – you will not have to answer most of the questions.

Information on this page applies to not-for-profit organisations based and operating in the UK.

Country of residence

The form will include a question about where your entity is resident for tax purposes. Answer UK.

The question may be something like: “Is the entity a resident for tax purposes anywhere other than the UK?” Answer no to this question.

TIN/Tax Reference Number

The form will include a question about your TIN or Tax Reference Number.

If you have a Tax Reference Number

If your organisation has been asked by HMRC to complete a tax return, then you will have a Tax Reference Number – this is called the Unique Taxpayer Reference Number. It is a 10 digit number. If you do have one, fill it in on the form.

If you don’t have a Tax Reference Number

Most small groups do not have a Tax Reference Number.

You should answer that you don’t have a TIN/Tax Reference Number – leave blank any boxes where you are asked to fill in the number.

If there is a box to tick for the reason why you don’t have one, choose the option that you are unable to obtain one.

When asked for an explanation of why you don’t have one, write that you have not been issued with a tax reference number.

Type of entity

There will be a section of the form which asks questions about what type of ‘entity’ you are.

Not-for-profit organisations are classified as Active Non-financial Entities for the purposes of this form.

If there is a question that asks if you are a Financial Entity, answer no.

If there is a question about Active or Passive Non-financial Entities, choose Active (or Actively trading).

The form may offer a range of boxes to tick for different types of Active Non-financial entities. If there is a box to tick for Not-for-profit organisations, tick that. Non-profit organisations may be included under ‘other’.

If the form asks whether you are a registered charity, and you are one, fill in your charity registration number where asked.

If the form asks about FATCA classification tick the box marked Active NFFE.

If the form asks about CRS classification, tick the box marked Active NFE.

The form may ask about both FATCA and CRS classifications. Answer both questions.

Other parts of the form

You should fill in the parts of the form that ask for your organisation’s name, address etc. Put the same name and address as the bank uses to send you bank statements.

You should sign and date the declaration at the end of the form.

You can leave all the other parts of the form blank.

Last updated: May 2020

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