Key Facts
- FATCA and CRS require German financial institutions, including alternative investment fund managers, to check their investors for specific tax and financial account information and report the data to the BZSt.
- Reports to the BZSt for the relevant reporting period must be submitted by July 31st of the following year.
- For the current 2024 reporting period, reports can be submitted via the previous ELSTER portal (“Mein BOP”) and the ELMA mass data interface for the last time.
FATCA and CRS Reports
The annual reporting season for the automatic exchange of financial account information in accordance with the international reporting standards FATCA and CRS is in full swing with the start of the summer.
FATCA is based on a bilateral agreement with the United States and requires financial institutions to report financial accounts held by U.S. tax residents. The so-called Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a multilateral reporting system that was introduced on the initiative of the OECD and additionally implemented within the EU on the basis of the EU Administrative Cooperation Directive. The aim of both reporting standards is to ensure the tax transparency of foreign financial accounts and thereby combat tax evasion and tax avoidance on an international level.
FATCA and CRS oblige German alternative investment fund managers to check their investors and their beneficial owners with regard to their tax liability in the United States (FATCA) or their tax liability outside of Germany (CRS). If reportable accounts (i.e. shareholdings) are identified, certain information regarding the account holders must be submitted annually to the BZSt.
The reporting deadline for the preceding calendar year, reporting date being December 31st, expires on July 31st of the following year.
If no reportable data is available for the reporting date, a so-called “nil report” can be submitted. There is currently no legal obligation to submit such a report.
Transition to the BZSt online.portal
Starting with the 2025 reporting year, the new BZSt online portal will fully replace the previous ELSTER portal. The previous ELMA interface (schema version 1.0) as well as the existing portal (“Mein BOP”) are expected to remain available until November 2025. Therefore, regular and timely data transmission for the 2024 reporting period will continue to take place via the ELSTER portal.
For the 2025 reporting period, users of the former ELMA mass data interface should be aware that activation on the new portal is not automatic and requires a new application.
Further information can be found here on FATCA and here on CRS.