Regulatory Blog

On 7 March 2025, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission issued an update through Industry Circular 12 of 2025 regarding the implementation of beneficial ownership filing requirements. This blog post outlines the key changes under the BVI Business Companies and Limited Partnerships (Beneficial Ownership) Regulations, 2024 and provides guidance on the phased implementation.

On 7 March 2025, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission published its detailed timeline for the rollout of key functionalities related to Beneficial Ownership filings, as well as the management of Registers of Directors, Registers of Members, Registers of Limited Partners, and Registers of General Partners. This phased approach aims to enhance compliance and operational efficiency for stakeholders.

The seminar hosted by the Cayman Islands Compliance Association and the Department for International Tax Cooperation in November 2024, provided important updates and valuable insights into the Cayman Islands’ tax transparency initiatives, compliance priorities and regulatory developments.

On 24 April 2024, the Cayman Islands Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) announced the publication of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) lists of participating jurisdictions and reportable jurisdictions.

In March 2024, the Cayman Islands' Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) issued a bulletin containing important updates regarding the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) reporting requirements.

On 5 February 2024, the BVI International Tax Authority published its updated Common Reporting Standards lists of Participating Jurisdictions and Reportable Jurisdictions for 2023. Both lists were gazetted on 8 February 2024.

In January 2024, the Cayman Islands government published the responses to the 2nd round of consultations on the Mandatory Disclosure Rules for Common Reporting Standard avoidance arrangements and opaque offshore structures. The introduction of the MDRs is part of the Cayman Islands' commitment to adopting OECD-style Model Rules.

On 6 December 2023, The BVI International Tax Authority announced that the BVI Financial Accounting Reporting System payment portal will go live in January 2024 and entities subject to reporting obligations concerning the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Common Reporting Standards, and Country by Country Reporting under British Virgin Islands law are required to remit an annual fee of US$185.

On 10 November 2023, the Cayman Islands and Cyprus have joined 46 other countries and territories in endorsing the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework action plan, by 2027.