N26 Bank - CRS

[Praetorian]

So it's recent news that N26 got under investigation for insufficient control over money laundering.
I am wondering: N26 seemed the stricter of the bunch, even not offering accounts to those residing in malta or cyprus or other dubious countries.
How comes authorities started to pressure on them?

A lot of EMIs/Banks/Crypto exchanges focus more on "pretending to be compliant" and less being actually compliant. They got first line defense controls like KYC, account freezes for large transfers to ask for documentation, but nothing that stops a smart money launderer from gaming the system. The governments probably got interested in them after they found one or several individuals gamed their system long enough to move large amounts of money.

Remember that "compliance departments" at banks are typically made up of 90% college kids pushing papers for 50k/year and 10% "higher echelon" professionals who are more worried about dick measuring contests than actually enforcing regulations (A lot of them make 6 figures and you really wonder what is their purpose at the bank). They focus on the smaller fish but as a result, a lot of the bigger fish get away with violations because they come with convincing stories/documentation and can keep things going for a long time before the authorities figure out what's going on. If that is the case with large banks, you can imagine how "compliance" works in EMIs that consist of geeks with macbook pros and some VC/mob money.

PS: Yes i consider N26 an EMI just by the way they operate, i wouldn't gamble on any license they got.

 

[Martin Everson]

How comes authorities started to pressure on them?

Because.....

---- quote start

Accounts from N26 play a role in 42 of 362 money laundering proceedings registered with the Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office this year, said an authority spokesman when asked by WirtschaftsWoche.

This corresponds to a share of more than ten percent. In the cases with N26 reference there is “often” a “background of fraud,” said the spokesman.

---- quote end

https://everly.eu/2021/08/12/n26-ac...investigated-in-money-laundering-proceedings/

 

[zzzzzz]

N26 only report balance at the 31 december + account number + the interest
Source : my CRS report for my individual account.
But again, gov may ask for more if it is suspicious. A personnal account will be ok because a lot of people have those accounts for travel, so taxman may not ask for more (that's what happened for me) but for a business account they will ask for more information

Where can you see your own CRS report at N26 (personal account)?

 

[Thepopo]

Where can you see your own CRS report at N26 (personal account)?

Unfortunately you can only find it on your taxman website. My country is a tax hell but at least theu are extremely transparent with documentation. Every document produced or received with my tax number is made available in my personnal space. N26 doesn't show it, you have to go on your taxman website and browse until you find it (if it is available)

 

[zzzzzz]

Unfortunately you can only find it on your taxman website. My country is a tax hell but at least theu are extremely transparent with documentation. Every document produced or received with my tax number is made available in my personnal space. N26 doesn't show it, you have to go on your taxman website and browse until you find it (if it is available)

Is AccountDetails meant for interest information (at the bottom of your attached report)?

 

[Marie Manila]

@Thepopo
Thanks for sharing your screenshot regarding CRS data received from N26.
Since you are almost the only one on this forum, who has access to this data, maybe you can help many others here with the big question "Do European EMIs share any data under CRS?".
If you have an account at an EU EMI (e.g. Revolut, Monese, Paysera, iCard, BNC10), it would be very nice, if you check, if there is any data reported.
Thank you.

 

[Thepopo]

So for the first question. Account detail includes the balance at 31.12 (like in a bank confirmation of an audit) and the interests.
Emi don't report. My revolut account was only reported when it became a bank account from lithuania in 2020, not when it was a GB iban from an EMI in 2019.
Seems like they have no obligation to do it if they don't operate under a bank licence (but they can still do it from a volunter basis).

 

[kkein]

So for the first question. Account detail includes the balance at 31.12 (like in a bank confirmation of an audit) and the interests.
Emi don't report. My revolut account was only reported when it became a bank account from lithuania in 2020, not when it was a GB iban from an EMI in 2019.
Seems like they have no obligation to do it if they don't operate under a bank licence (but they can still do it from a volunter basis).

About revolut, have you "opted in" to turn your EMI account into Bank account, or haven't you? This is also interesting to know

 

[Thepopo]

About revolut, have you "opted in" to turn your EMI account into Bank account, or haven't you? This is also interesting to know

It was forced by revolut unfortunately

 

[Marie Manila]

So for the first question. Account detail includes the balance at 31.12 (like in a bank confirmation of an audit) and the interests.
Emi don't report. My revolut account was only reported when it became a bank account from lithuania in 2020, not when it was a GB iban from an EMI in 2019.
Seems like they have no obligation to do it if they don't operate under a bank licence (but they can still do it from a volunter basis).

Now the big question is, if they report because you have a bank account now (more likely) or because you have an account at a LT entity.
I think UK (and Malta) had and still has an exception for CRS reporting on EMIs.
See this post:
https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/threads/emi-no-crs.31078/post-154823
Do you have an account at another EMI in Lithuania and give some information, if that one got reported?
Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[kkein]

It was forced by revolut unfortunately

That is not exact.. Actually it is still possible to date to skip that prompt

 

[Thepopo]

That is not exact.. Actually it is still possible to date to skip that prompt

Not for Belgian clients.
And no i don't use another EMI unfortunately

 

[uplana]

Thats pretty much it as @legrant said. The amounts debited and credited, interest paid and even account closure during reporting period. Basically no escape by having a zero balance or closing account etc.

It means they also report ZERO (0) balance accounts as an must ? no avoidance at all ?

I thought I read in another thread that zero balanced accounts will not be reported??

 

[Martin Everson]

I thought I read in another thread that zero balanced accounts will not be reported??

So imagine you have $1,000,000,000 pass through your account and leave balance always at zero. You thiink there will be no reporting of that account?

 

[blackmax]

Not for Belgian clients.
And no i don't use another EMI unfortunately

Do you have a paypal account? Do you see any reports from Paypal?

 

[uplana]

So imagine you have $1,000,000,000 pass through your account and leave balance always at zero. You thiink there will be no reporting of that account?

I believe not, sadly. But if you had no balance at the account at all, or maybe just a few hundred, will they report this?

Do you have a paypal account? Do you see any reports from Paypal?

So far never seen anything from PayPal reported. Maybe it's why they shut accounts down, it's rather then reporting them

 

[Martin Everson]

I believe not, sadly. But if you had no balance at the account at all, or maybe just a few hundred, will they report this?

Unfortunately thats not the way it works. It depends on the account type you are talking about here. They can report the aggregate amount of money paid or credited to certain account types during the calendar year. You can see the reporting schema yourself below allows this.

https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/common-reporting-standard/schema-and-user-guide/
Also it's best to ask the bank you are concerned about directly as banks like HSBC tell you they report total payments credited but you can ask them for what exact account types perhaps if you don't believe them.

--- quote start

What information will be reported to tax authorities?​

The information reported to tax authorities will have been provided in the self-certification form, and details about the accounts and products you have with us, including:

• the balance or value
• the total amounts of interest or payments credited

--- quote end

 

[uplana]

Thank you, I will ask the banks for advice, same applies for EMI's, right?

 

[Martin Everson]

Thank you, I will ask the banks for advice, same applies for EMI's, right?

Yes if EMI signed up to CRS reporting. But only way to find out is to ask them or check their faq pages. Plenty of inconsistencies when it comes to CRS reporting.

 

[olegek82]

N26 bank won't give me my money after 2 months close account this normal ? how many need wait ? all documents and tax declaration i give