A common question is: can a second passport keep a bank account out of tax reporting? The short answer: no, and trying is dangerous. The information in this article comes from the OECD's pages on tax transparency, checked on 24 October 2026.
What the CRS is
The Common Reporting Standard was approved by the OECD Council on 15 July 2014. Under it, participating jurisdictions obtain financial account information from their banks and financial institutions and exchange it automatically with other jurisdictions every year. The information is sent to the jurisdiction where the account holder is tax resident.
Why tax residence matters, not citizenship
- The CRS works on the basis of tax residence. The bank asks you to declare the country or countries where you are tax resident.
- A new passport does not change your tax residence. If you live in a country, you are usually tax resident there.
- Declaring a false tax residence to a bank has serious legal consequences.
The OECD's criteria for investment schemes
The OECD has reviewed citizenship and residence by investment schemes for the risk of circumventing the CRS. According to the OECD, a scheme is "potentially high-risk" if it has both features:
- access to a personal income tax rate below 10 per cent on offshore financial assets;
- no requirement of significant physical presence, that is at least 90 days, in the country offering the scheme.
The OECD publishes and updates a list of such schemes. Banks may ask customers who present documents from such schemes further questions about their tax residence. See the current list on the OECD's official page.
In practice
- Answer the bank's questions about tax residence correctly and completely.
- If you are tax resident in several countries, declare them all.
- Keep residence documents ready, such as a residence card, leases and tax returns.
- Before any tax decision, speak to a tax adviser in the country where you live.
What a second passport is good for
A second passport has value for travel, family security and life options. Hiding assets from the country where you are tax resident is not one of those values.
Royal Golden does not give tax advice. This article is general information and not tax or legal advice.
Sources
- OECD, international standards on tax transparency (CRS) — https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/international-standards-on-tax-transparency.html (via the search index; the OECD site refused direct access; checked on 24 October 2026)
- OECD, residence and citizenship by investment schemes — https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/international-standards-on-tax-transparency/residence-citizenship-by-investment.html (via the search index; the OECD site refused direct access; checked on 24 October 2026)