TL;DR: If you open a new financial account, you must generally provide a self-certification concerning your tax residences and tax identification numbers. If you are a passive non-financial entity, you must also provide this information for the individuals who control you. In the absence of a compliant self-certification, the financial institution must refuse to open the account in the cases provided for by the regulations.
When must you provide a self-certification?
A “new account” is a financial account opened on or after 1 January 2016 that is not classified as a pre-existing account.
If you open such an account as an individual or entity, you must provide the required information by means of a self-certification. This obligation falls on the account holder.
What information must you declare?
You must declare:
- your tax residences;
- your tax identification numbers.
The self-certification must contain the information required by II of Article 1649 AC of the CGI.
If you are a minor individual, the legal representative is the relevant holder for this obligation.
Rules applicable to entities
If you are an active non-financial entity, you must plausibly self-certify your tax residences and tax identification numbers.
If you are a passive non-financial entity, you must self-certify:
- your tax residences and tax identification numbers;
- the tax residence of the individuals who control you;
- the tax identification numbers of those individuals.
What happens if you do not provide a compliant self-certification?
For an individual, if you do not certify your tax residences and tax identification numbers, the financial institution must refuse to establish the contractual relationship as of 30 December 2017.
For an active non-financial entity, the financial institution must refuse to open the account if you do not plausibly certify your tax residences and tax identification numbers.
For a passive non-financial entity, the financial institution must refuse to open the account if the information concerning the entity or the individuals who control it is not plausibly self-certified. The account cannot be opened in the absence of information on the individuals who control the entity.
Is there an exemption for clients already known?
You may be exempt from this obligation if you were already a client of the financial institution on 31 December 2015 and remained so until the account was opened, provided that the financial institution complies with the conditions set out in point b of 1° of I of Article 15 of Decree No. 2016-1683 of 5 December 2016.