Inland Revenue Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 17D) Notice 2020

The Inland Revenue Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 17D) Notice 2020 (“Amendment Notice”) came into operation on 1 January 2021. The amendment will apply to reporting financial institutions’ reports due for mid-2022 (for information of year 2021) and thereafter.

The Amendment Notice amends section 5 of Part 6 of Schedule 17D (Due Diligence Requirements) to the Inland Revenue Ordinance (“IRO”) to specify that for the purpose of determining the controlling persons of an account holder of a new entity account, a reporting financial institution (“FI”) may rely on information collected and maintained pursuant to the anti-money laundering/know your customer procedures if those procedures are consistent with Recommendations 10 and 25 of the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations (as defined by Section 50A(1) of the IRO). Recommendation 10 sets out the customer due diligence measures that FIs are required to undertake, whereas recommendation 25 sets out the requirement in relation to transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements.

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