CRS (Common Reporting Standard)
At international level, there is the CRS, the ‘Common Reporting
Standard’.
This is an OECD standard for the automatic exchange of information on
financial accounts. It specifies which data must be collected by financial
intermediaries, which accounts are relevant, which individuals must be
identified and which due diligence obligations apply. Within the European
Union, the CRS has essentially been incorporated into DAC2.
You can find the full list of countries here.
DAC (Directive on Administrative Cooperation)
DAC refers to the ‘Directive on Administrative Cooperation’, i.e. the EU
framework for the exchange of tax information between tax administrations with
the aim of combating tax evasion/avoidance and aggressive tax planning. It
consists of a series of directives (from 2011 onwards) that provide for the
automatic, on-request and spontaneous exchange of information between Member
States. The DAC does not only concern financial accounts. It is the general EU
framework for cooperation between tax administrations: it also covers tax
rulings, country-by-country reporting, beneficial owners, cross-border
arrangements, digital platforms and crypto-assets
| Legislation |
Main content |
| DAC1 |
Automatic exchange of information on income from employment, pensions, directors’ remuneration, property and certain insurance products |
| DAC2 |
Exchange of information on financial accounts in accordance with the CRS: banks and financial intermediaries report data on accounts held by persons with tax residence in other countries (*) |
| DAC3 |
Automatic exchange of information on cross-border tax rulings and on APAs (‘Advance Pricing Agreements’) in the area of transfer pricing. |
| DAC4 |
Exchange of country-by-country reports from multinational business groups, useful for audits relating to transfer pricing and profit allocation |
| DAC5 |
Access by tax authorities to information for the purposes of combating money laundering, in particular regarding beneficial owners |
| DAC6 |
The DAC6 Directive requires intermediaries established in the EU, or in certain circumstances taxable individuals, to report cross-border arrangements that meet specific criteria (geographical scope and so-called ‘distinguishing features’ relating to potential tax risk) to their tax authorities |
| DAC7 |
Reporting obligations for digital platforms: online sales, leaseback arrangements, the hire of means of transport and personal services. Applies from 2023 |
| DAC8 |
Extends the automatic exchange of information to crypto-assets. Crypto-service providers must collect and report data on transactions by EU users; applicable from 1 January 2026 |
| DAC9 |
Relates to reporting in connection with the global minimum tax / Pillar Two for multinational business groups and large domestic business groups. Aims to centralise and simplify the exchange of information regarding the top-up tax. The first reporting obligation in Italy is scheduled for 30 June 2026 with the submission of the ‘Comunicazione Rilevante’. This applies exclusively to business groups with a consolidated annual turnover of at least 750 million euros. |
FATCA (‘Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act’)
The exchange of information with the United States, on the other hand,
follows the FATCA framework, which is based on the intergovernmental agreement
between Italy and the US. Financial intermediaries collect information, and the
tax authorities exchange this automatically.
In practice, banks and foreign financial intermediaries must identify
customers with links to the United States and report certain information
regarding their financial relationships. In the case of Italy, the data is
transmitted to the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), which then exchanges
it with the US tax authority in accordance with the FATCA agreement between
Italy and the US.
The logic is similar to that of CRS/DAC2, but with one key difference:
- CRS/DAC2 concerns multilateral exchange between many countries, primarily within the framework of the OECD/EU;
- FATCA, on the other hand, mainly concerns exchange with the United States