How do you ensure corporate or HNW clients understand what is expected and the implications for their business?
CRS should technically come into effect in Lebanon in January 2017, with reporting to start in 2018. This follows the legislation passed by parliament last Sep- tember after many months of political deadlock.
The relevant legislation was passed to avoid being black- listed by the OECD, however the method of implementa- tion is still under scrutiny, as this matter would damage a banking system built on bank secrecy laws. Although Lebanon has been known as the ‘Switzerland of the Levant’ for many decades now, opening bank accounts and going through the KYC process is much stricter than before.
The automatic exchange of data required by CRS legisla- tion has led to long and fierce debates between the Central Bank (Bank du Liban), seeking to preserve secrecy within the banking industry, and the Ministry of Finance, seeking to comply with the OECD directives.
We have developed a tax diploma program with the Ameri- can University of Beirut to educate people on their tax duties in compliance with the new OECD directives, including CRS. We have also been actively updating clients on the impact of these measures; since most have found this difficult to wrap around.