Hello
Bitfinex Compliance Team asking to fill FATCA and CRS to exchange that information with the tax authorities of the customer’s country of residence
I have friends they live in a country trading/buying/selling cryptocurrencies is prohibited what should they do any advice?
The question is, did Bitfinex specifically said they would exchange such information to those other countries tax authorities? The issus of tax would come only when crypto is allowed. You don't expect a country that prohibits crypto currency expects to generate tax from such avenue, its contradictory. They might send the details for other reasons, but not for tax purposes.
What you should you advise your friend is that, if he is not sure that Bitfinex would keep his information safe without sending it to his home country which might lead to some form of punishment because it had already been prohibited, he should just end his relationship with Bitfinex and move somewhere else. There are lots of other trading platforms although ask for KYCs but not going to send your details home.
this is the email which my friend received
Dear Customer,
Under the laws of the British Virgin Islands (which are applicable to entities organized in the British Virgin Islands, including us), we are required to report certain account information to the BVI government. The government of the BVI may then exchange that information with the tax authorities of the customer’s country of residence, consistent with British Virgin Islands law, the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
You can read more about FATCA here and about CRS here.
Pursuant to BVI law, we are required to obtain self-certifications from our customers in order to ascertain each customer’s tax residence. To that end, we are providing links to the following four self-certification forms:
(1) FATCA self-certification form for individual customers (available here);
(2) FATCA self-certification form for entity customers (available here);
(3) CRS self-certification form for individual customers (available here);
(4) CRS self-certification form for entity customers (available here).
We request that you complete the appropriate self-certification form and upload it to your Bitfinex account (Account > Verification > Manage Documents > Upload New) by May 24, 2018, at the latest. If you are a U.S. person (i.e., a U.S. resident, a U.S. citizen, or an entity organized in the United States), or an entity with at least one 25%+ owner who is a U.S. person, please complete the appropriate FATCA form. Otherwise, please complete the appropriate CRS form.
You are required to provide us with such information. As a reminder, by agreeing to our terms of service (as set out at
https://www.bitfinex.com/legal/terms), you have agreed to use the website in compliance with applicable laws or regulations.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
The Bitfinex Compliance Team
https://www.bitfinex.com
