The International Tax Authority would like to remind all Virgin Islands Financial Institutions (VIFI) of the following:

“Section 28(2)(c) of the MLA requires a VIFI to provide the name, address etc. of their principal point of contact for all purposes of compliance with the standard. This person is identified as the “Primary User” within the BVIFARs portal. It is expected that the primary user does not change and has a permanent position within the VIFI.

Section 31 of the MLA allows a VIFI to appoint an agent to carry out their duties and obligations imposed on the VIFI by MLA. Since, these duties and obligations will remain the responsibility of the VIFI, this person cannot be the Primary User within the BVIFARs portal.  This person must be given “Secondary User” access on behalf of the VIFI. The Secondary User does not have to be communicated to the ITA, as secondary user privileges can be given to that user by the Primary user within the portal.”

Any registered VIFI that has an appointed Primary User who does not have a permanent position within the Financial Institution is required to update the Primary User Information within BVIFARS by no later than December 31, 2022.

Failure to update this information by the specified time is an offense under the CRS Legislation. For assistance in updating the Primary User Information through BVIFARS please see the link to BVIFARS User Guide: https://bviita.vg/blog/2020/05/29/updated-bvifars-user-guide/

For any questions, please email us at info@bviita.vg