How exactly does the CRS work?

[John89]

I have a question about the CRS.

I lived in Singapore and opened bank accounts in Singapore using my Singapore ID and Singapore address. I moved to France and now I live in France and have a French passport (double nationality), but the French government doesn't know I have a Singapore ID.

Now I have been transferring some money from my Singapore bank to my French bank. The French government knows I have the account in Bank A in Singapore, because I transfer money to my French bank account from the Singapore Bank A account.

I use my account in Bank A in Singapore to also transfer some money to another bank in Singapore (Bank B), and from Bank B to a bank in Sweden (Bank C). The bank account in Sweden (Bank C) is in my name, but the address I give is that of Singapore, and I use my Singapore ID to open the account. The French government doesn't know I have a Singapore ID. I am going to close the account in Singapore Bank A, but I am thinking of keeping the account of Singapore Bank B open. I think banks need to keep their records for 5-7 years, so whether I close the account or not doesn't actually have any impact on the reporting to the CRS, right?

Will the government of France know that I have that account in Sweden? My reasoning is:

1) Yes: The government can ask the Singapore Bank A about my transactions, Bank A will tell the French government that I also transferred money to my Bank B in Singapore. So the French government will find out I have an account in Singapore Bank B, and will ask about my transaction. Singapore Bank B will inform the French government that I transferred money to a bank in Sweden.

2) No: The bank account in Sweden is in my name, but a different ID number than my French passport. The CRS asks for name and ID, so if the IDs don't match, the government has no way to find out.

I guess the question is how the CRS works, and whether they can find out all the transactions undertaken by a bank in Singapore (and to which bank), or only the total amount that I have on the account.

Any comment or advise would be very helpful.

 

[JosephLL]

Neither of those banks ever asked you for a proof of your citizenship only residentship? Did you have to reveal your passport at account openings?

 

[John89]

Yes, I have a sort of second passport from Singapore, and I used that one. They didn't ask me for my French passport.

 

[JosephLL]

If you have opened yor Singaporean accounts as a resident & citizen, without any clues given to the banks that you're also a French citizen I can't see why would your accounts be subject to crs reporting (just common sense). Ofc the very logic is known only to developers and authorities I doubt they are willing to reveal them 🙂 But crs should not be about reporting your own cituzens&residents to outside.

 

[John89]

Thanks. That's also what my common sense says. But the problem is that I transferred funds from my Bank A in Singapore (opened with my SIngapore ID) to my French bank, so the French government can know that I have an account in Bank A. I am going to close the account in Bank A, but I also used Bank A to transfer money to Bank B, and I keep my money in Bank B. Can the French authorities find out that I have an account in Bank B, by asking Bank A all the transactions I made from Bank A?