Further Transparency Developments: CRS Updates Incoming

With a plethora of other recent transparency developments – with a focus on the UK's Register of Overseas Entities and the Trust Registration Service (TRS) – private client practitioners might be forgiven for overlooking the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Developed by the OECD, the CRS is an international initiative to put in place a common approach to the automatic exchange of tax information on a multilateral basis, which was implemented into UK law in 2015. The CRS builds on the FATCA architecture developed by the US and adopted by the UK. Following announcements at the UK's Autumn Budget 2024 (which in turn followed a 2024 Government consultation), new regulations were introduced on 24 June 2025 that, with effect from (initially) 16 July 2025, implement changes to the scope of the CRS, in line with international obligations.