Cayman Islands extends FATCA filing deadline again

The Cayman Islands government has further extended the deadline for filing 2019 reports under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to 16 November 2020.

The deferral is possible because of the US government’s recent deadline relaxations due to the coronavirus outbreak. It is giving so-called Model-1 jurisdictions until 31 December 2020 to provide their FATCA data for tax year 2019/20.

The Cayman Islands has already deferred reporting under the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) system to 18 September for the 2019 reporting period. Its Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) says it is not currently proposing to make any further changes to this deadline. However, it says it is ‘monitoring the international landscape carefully’ and will consider any appropriate adjustments if other international deadlines are modified.

The Cayman Islands government is keen for the industry to meet its CRS filing obligations, as it is currently undergoing a peer review assessment by the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Forum).

As well as filing CRS data, financial institutions and trustee-documented trusts will also have to file CRS compliance forms by 31 December 2020, and annually thereafter. Although the deadline is some way off, the Ministry of Financial Services notes that it is a critical component of the Forum’s peer-review process.