Q&A about self-certification and tax liability abroad

If you have received a self-certification form regarding your tax residence from us, you may have some questions. Here are a number of questions and answers about the self-certification form, tax residence abroad and the underlying legislation.

We are obligated to report customers who we suspect to have a foreign tax residence to the Danish tax authorities. This is the reason for why we ask you to complete the self-certification form so we can ensure we report correct and valid information. You are likewise obligated to provide us with the information requested. 

If you wish to read more about the rules, you can read more about the rules at the Danish tax authorities’ website (you can change language settings to English).

  • We are contacting you because we have found one or more indicia that indicates you are tax resident in country different from where you have your banking activities. You are therefore asked to either deny this finding, or confirm it and provide us with additional information (such as Taxpayer Identification Number (“TIN”) or similar information).

    We base our assumption of a foreign tax residence on one or more of the following: 
    You are born in the US;

    • You have a foreign residential address or c/o address; 
    • You have changed your only contact number to a foreign phone number;
    • You have established a standing payment instruction to a country abroad; 
    • You have created a Power of Attorney to a person living abroad. 
  • Being tax resident in a country means that you are liable to pay tax in that country on your total income in, for example, Denmark and abroad. This is also called “fully tax liable” as opposed to “limited tax liable”. As a general rule, you are fully tax liable in the country in which you live or stay for more than 183 days out of a 12-month period.
  • On the certification form, you need to list only the countries in which you are fully tax liable – and not those in which you have limited tax liability. You are subject to limited tax liability in a country if, for example, you have an income in the country but do not live there. In that case, you will be fully tax liable in another country. For example, if you live in Denmark, but works in Sweden.
  • Your tax residence does not depend on whether you actually have an income. Equally, it does not always mean that you actually have to pay tax. Irrespective of whether or not you have an income, you are considered to be fully tax liable and resident in the country in which you live. For example, if you have retired and moved abroad. You are still liable to pay tax of your pension payments, but you are residing permanently in another country. You are therefore tax resident in the latter country.
  • Your tax residence does not depend on whether you actually have an income. Equally, it does not always mean that you actually have to pay tax. Irrespective of whether or not you have an income, you are considered to be fully tax liable and resident in the country in which you live. For example, if you have retired and moved abroad. You are still liable to pay tax of your pension payments, but you are residing permanently in another country. You are therefore tax resident in the latter country.
  • No, you need to indicate only the countries in which you are fully tax liable – that is, the countries in which you must pay tax on your total income.
  • Once you have completed the certification form, we can report correct information about where you are tax resident. If you indicate that you are tax resident outside Denmark, we are obligated to pass this information on to the tax authorities, alongside information about your account balances and income in accounts subject to the reporting requirement (such as dividends, interest income and sales proceeds). If you cure the found indicia, you will not be subject to reporting.
  • If we do not receive the completed self-certification form from you, we will have to rely on our existing information and report to the Danish tax authorities that you may be liable to pay tax outside Denmark.
  • If we do not receive the completed self-certification form from you, we will have to rely on our existing information and report to the Danish tax authorities that you may be liable to pay tax outside Denmark. 
  • If we have reason to believe that you have not completed the certification form correctly, we will contact you to clarify the matter.
  • If you indicate that you are tax resident outside Denmark, we are obliged to pass this information on to the tax authorities along with information about your credit balances and income in accounts subject to the reporting requirement, including dividends, interest income and income from sales.
  • If you have previously informed us that you were fully tax liable abroad, but this is no longer the case, you must send a self-certification form to us specifying the country in which you are now fully tax liable.
  • TIN is an abbreviation for ‘Taxpayer Identification Number’, and is a foreign taxpayer identification number you use for submitting tax returns and other tax related documents in the country of residence. The name of such numbers varies from country to country. For example, in the UK it is known as a National Insurance Number (“NINO”) and in the US it is called a Social Security Number (“SSN”). In the event you are a US taxpayer, but do not have a SSN, you must contact the US tax authorities, the Internal Revenue Service.
  • There are two types of rules underlying the requirement for self-certification. These are the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) rules, which are designed to prevent tax evasion in the US, and the CRS (Common Reporting Standard) rules, which aim to prevent international tax evasion. 
  • All banks in Denmark must comply with the rules. The banks have different methods of obtaining information from customers to clarify tax liability, and the self-certification form may therefore differ from one bank to another. We ask our customers where they are fully tax liable and ask them to provide their foreign taxpayer identification number (TIN).

    Every year in May, we report customers who have been identified as being liable to pay tax outside Denmark to the tax authorities. The same applies to customers who do not complete the self-certification form and about whom we have information that causes us to believe that they may be liable to pay tax outside Denmark. Our reporting includes information on credit balances and income in accounts covered by the reporting requirement.
  • All persons born in the US are by way of US tax legislation generally regarded as US citizens and therefore tax resident in the US. Pursuant to the FATCA agreement with the US, we are obligated to report US persons. It is possible to abolish your US citizenship by request, which will cause you not to be considered as a US citizen. In such case, we ask you to provide us with the supporting documentation (e.g. Certificate of Loss of Nationality). 
    If you are a US citizen, but do not have a Social Security Number (“SSN”), please add a comment to the self-certification form and explain the reason for why you do not have a SSN.  
  • You must complete the certification form so we can report correct information about where you are fully tax liable. We are obliged to provide this information to the tax authorities along with information about your credit balances and income in accounts subject to the reporting requirement, including dividends, interest income and sales proceeds.

  • Minors are not exempt from reporting, so if your child is fully tax liable abroad and is a customer with us, we need the same information about your child as we need about you.
You can find more information about the rules and your obligations at the Danish Tax Authorities’ website (you can change language settings at the bottom of the site). 

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