Did Axel trigger AEOI?

[sriracha]

Axel, a citizen of Germany, and a fiscal resident of Germany, opens a Revolut account‌ and a N26 account and uses both of them daily (cash withdrawals, purchases...).
One day‍ Axel meets Maria from Barcelona and falls in love, head over heels with her.
Maria goes back to Barcelona, and Axel decides to follow, so he asks his employer to⁠ work from Barcelona.
So now Axel lives in Maria's apartment in Barcelona, works from there,⁤ keeps his German telephone number and of course uses his Revolut and N26 cards to⁣ go shopping and withdraw cash.

Both Revolut and N26's apps don't sense that he is⁢ in Spain (while roaming, you get always an IP address from your country) but of︀ course both banks know he is in Spain from all the transactions.
So at some︁ point they decide he's living in Spain and start sending his info to Hacienda.

How long is "at some point"? The first transaction? The first month? 183 days? Never? Depending︂ on the total amount of transactions?

 

[Sols]

Are you sure about that?

A number greater than or equal to 0 days.

When I have seen‍ banks do it, it has been after 90 to 180 days.

 

[sriracha]

Yes, you can try for‌ yourself, next time you travel abroad do a "what is my ip" search and see.‍

 

[Clank]

I think this is not‍ this way as when you are in roaming you use a local company with local⁠ ip.

 

[Sols]

I think this might vary‍ depending on where you travel to and your phone operator. But if you've tested in⁠ your case, you're probably fine. However, from what I've seen, you are given a local⁤ IP address in the country because by roaming you are connecting to a local network⁣ instead of your home network.

 

[daxbr]

Would he be better off sending small transfers to Maria's bank account and collect cash‌ from her?

 

[sriracha]

Excellent idea

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

yeah, roaming always routes your‌ traffic through the origin country

 

[Sols]

Not sure that'll help. If the bank is‍ the kind of bank that preemptively questions and takes action against account holder's tax residence,⁠ they will see the frequent transactions to the Spanish person as signs the person may⁤ have strong economic ties to Spain. Especially if there is no or very little comparable⁣ economic activity with Germany.

After doing some tests, I can confirm that this isn't always︀ the case.

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

Can you give more details please? wanna know

 

[sriracha]

I travel‌ A LOT and it's been my consistent experience, across operators and countries, that you get‍ an IP from your operator in the country of the telephone number.

 

[Sols]

Tested with‌ a couple of roaming SIMs and got IP addresses from the country of physical location‍ with some of them. Haven't seen any pattern yet.

For the⁣ purposes of this thread, we can then probably safely presume that IP location isn't a⁢ factor that indicates you are , sorry, I mean Axel is , spending a lot︀ of time in Spain.

 

[12345]

Hmm keep in mind that revolut or n26 are internet banks and because of that‌ the reporting rules might be different or they possibly not report at all to foreign‍ tax offices but do your own research!

 

[Sols]

This is absolutely⁠ incorrect. Revolut and N26 are bound by the same rules and regulations as traditional banks⁤ and financial service providers.

 

[12345]

Ah okay, Im‍ very sorry, yes you are right they have a banking license - revolut and n26,⁠ but with other emis without the license it could be different but you never know.⁤ OP maybe you could ask n26 or revolut directly about it or it might be⁣ a bit risky haha