Controlling person (CRS)
beherrschende Person
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Under the CRS, the natural person who controls a passive non-financial entity – for trusts and foundations in particular the settlor or founder, the governing bodies, the protector and the beneficiaries.
For each controlling person, the tax residence, tax identification number, date of birth and place of birth must be reported.
In practice
Controlling persons are derived from the beneficial owners as determined under anti-money-laundering rules, but for trusts every role counts regardless of thresholds. In practice, the family office keeps one record per person with all tax residences and tax identification numbers and uses it for the self-certification at every bank, so that the same person is reported consistently everywhere.
Distinctions and common mistakes
A controlling person under the CRS is not the same as the controlling person of an operating company under Swiss anti-money-laundering rules. Typical mistakes are omitting discretionary beneficiaries in years in which they receive a distribution and missing tax identification numbers for persons with several residences.
Relevant in: EU-wide
Related terms
- Passive non-financial entity
- Under the CRS, an entity that is not a financial institution and mainly earns passive income such as interest, dividends or rent.
- Common Reporting Standard
- The OECD's global standard for the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts.