The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (TIA) released its User Guide for the Cayman Islands Automatic Exchange of Information Portal (Portal) on 18 March 2015. Although there have been some press reports that the Portal is now open, it is not as at the date of this eAlert. Appleby is closely monitoring the situation and we will send a further alert when the Portal is live.

The User Guide

The User Guide provides detailed, practical guidance on the form of notification, the method for logging in and inputting user details, creating and submitting returns and viewing returns that have already been submitted.

Cayman reporting financial institutions (Reporting FIs) are required to name a “Principal Point of Contact” (POC), who must be an individual who has been authorised by the Reporting FI to access the Portal and create the Reporting FI’s profile. It is important to note that the appointment of the POC must be supported by a letter of authorisation to be uploaded to the Portal as a PDF at the time of registration. The letter of authorisation must be on the letterhead of the Reporting FI and must include:

  • the Reporting FI’s name and its GIIN (if applicable);
  • the full name and contact particulars of person providing the authorisation on behalf of the Reporting FI;
  • the full name and office address of the POC.

The POC may name other users who will have all of the same permissions (save for the ability to name other users themselves). The POC is responsible for administration of the account and monitoring of users.

The online notification will then be processed by the TIA and, if there are no issues with the application, the account will be created and a username and temporary password will be sent to the POC.

Once this username and password has been received, the POC can log in to the Portal and create and submit returns for the Reporting FI. The returns themselves can simply be uploaded as an XML file or the necessary data can be entered manually in a web form. Both processes appear simple and straightforward on the face of it.