What is a Tax Identification Number?

A Tax Identification Number (TIN) is an identifying number used for tax purposes. Most countries / jurisdictions issue these to identify their taxpayers and facilitate the administration of their national tax affairs. Each country / jurisdiction will have its own structure (combinations of letters / numbers / symbols and digit length) and refer to it by its own terminology such as National Insurance Number, Social Security Number, Employer Identification Number or Personal Identification Number.

In order to comply with new international tax agreements, financial institutions such as the West Brom are required to collect and record the countries or jurisdictions in which customers are tax resident plus Tax Identification Number(s) for customers who are tax resident outside the UK.

Financial institutions must then provide HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with annual reports containing certain account information (including tax residencies and TINs) for its customers who:

(i) have one or more tax residencies outside the UK;  and

(ii) where the country / jurisdiction in which they are tax resident has entered into the international tax agreements.

HMRC will, in turn, provide this information to the relevant country’s / jurisdiction’s tax authority.