Key Takeaways
- Panama participates in the Common Reporting Standard, so designated financial institutions must identify and report accounts held by non-residents.
- Reportable accounts and persons are determined through due diligence and self-certification, making accurate residency information essential for foreign holders.
- Information collected is shared with Panama's CRS partner jurisdictions through automatic exchange, subject to set reporting deadlines and penalties for non-compliance.
- Non-resident owners should track Panama's evolving CRS position and ensure their account details and filings stay consistent across jurisdictions.
Panama and the Common Reporting Standard: What Foreign Owners Need to Know
CRS in Panama is fully operational. The country signed the multilateral framework for automatic exchange of financial account information, completed its first exchange in September 2018, and now shares account data with dozens of partner tax authorities each year. The domestic authority running the regime is the Dirección General de Ingresos (DGI), under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which publishes its rules on the official CRS portal.
This matters to any non-resident who holds, or plans to hold, a financial account through a Panamanian bank, broker, trust company, or investment entity. The pages that follow explain how the standard came into force, who reports, what gets reported, the deadlines that apply, and what all of it means for a foreign account holder.
Panama's CRS Commitment Status and First-Exchange Timeline
Panama committed in 2016 to begin automatic exchange under the Common Reporting Standard, and it delivered its first exchange in September 2018. It signed the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) in Paris on 15 January 2018, becoming the 98th signatory, with September 2018 set as the intended first-exchange date.
The exchange network has expanded steadily each reporting year. Far from being absent or dormant, this is an active and growing regime.
| Reporting year | Partner jurisdictions |
|---|---|
| RY2017 | 32 |
| RY2018 | 62 |
| RY2019 | 63 |
| RY2020 | 67 |
| RY2021 | 69 |
| RY2022 | 68 |
| RY2023 | 74 |
| RY2024 | 87 |
Source: OECD AEOI exchanges data.
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The Legal Basis for CRS in Panama
The international foundation is the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which Panama brought into domestic effect through Law 5 of 21 February 2017. The CRS-specific obligations sit on a domestic statute, Law 51 of 27 October 2016, the enabling law for automatic exchange.
Executive Decree No. 124 of 12 May 2017 set out the operating rules for both the CRS regime and the parallel FATCA arrangement with the United States. A later instrument, Executive Decree No. 461 of December 2017, amended that framework to refine how tax information is exchanged.
The DGI is the competent authority for all of this. Its portal hosts the legal instruments, registration steps, and frequently asked questions that reporting institutions rely on.
Financial Institutions Required to Report Under CRS
Reporting falls on entities classified as Panamanian Reporting Financial Institutions. These are the firms that interpret the framework, run due diligence, file the returns, and carry the administrative responsibilities, and they fall within the standard CRS categories: custodial institutions, depository institutions, investment entities, and specified insurance companies.
Each such institution must register on the DGI portal before it can file, following the step-by-step guide the authority publishes there. Accurate registration is a precondition for meeting the annual reporting requirement.
An institution may outsource the work to a service provider, but the compliance liability does not move with it. Responsibility stays with the reporting institution, and any service provider must itself be a registered legal entity.
If an entity loses its status as a Panamanian Reporting Financial Institution during a calendar year, it must notify the DGI within 30 calendar days of the change.
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Accounts and Persons That Are Reportable
A Panamanian institution must report accounts whose holders or beneficial owners are tax-resident in a reportable jurisdiction. The data captured for each Reportable Person includes name, address, taxpayer identification number, date and place of birth, the year-end balance or value, and distributions such as dividends, interest, and gross proceeds.
Place of birth became a mandatory field for individual reportable holders under the DGI guidance issued in October 2025. Once an account is flagged as reportable, the institution must report it for that year and every year afterward, until the holder stops being a Reportable Person.
A de minimis rule applies to older entity accounts. Pre-existing entity accounts not exceeding USD 250,000 as of 30 June 2017 sit outside review and reporting until their value crosses that threshold.
The reportable-jurisdiction list set by Executive Decree No. 343 (2020) named 64 jurisdictions, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay. A separate list of participating jurisdictions, set by Resolution No. 201-1516 of 13 March 2024, covers 90.
Due Diligence and Self-Certification Obligations
Self-certification of tax residency is the starting point. Individual and entity account holders must provide it to their Panamanian institution, which then tests the plausibility of what is declared under the due diligence rules carried into Executive Decree 124 of 2017.
Records for any account holder with fiscal residency outside Panama must be kept for at least five years. An institution may extend new-account procedures to pre-existing accounts, either across the board or to a clearly defined group.
For high-value accounts, enhanced review need not be repeated in later years once applied, with one exception for the relationship manager inquiry. If an account becomes undocumented, the institution must re-run those procedures annually until the gap is closed.
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Panama's CRS Partner Jurisdictions and Exchange Network
Exchanges run under the CRS MCAA framework, activated for Panama in September 2018. By reporting year 2024, the country was exchanging with 87 partners, and it recognises 90 participating jurisdictions for inbound purposes under Resolution No. 201-1516.
Globally, more than 2,700 bilateral exchange relationships exist under the standard, and Panama sits inside that network. The DGI publishes and updates its partner list on the official CRS portal.
The US does not participate in CRS; it relies on FATCA instead. Panama-US account information flows under a Model 1 Intergovernmental Agreement, not the MCAA.
Reporting Deadlines, Filing Mechanics and Penalties for Non-Compliance
From the 2019 tax year, the standard annual deadline for Panamanian institutions to file CRS returns with the DGI is 31 July of the year following the reported tax year. The DGI granted an extension for the 2024 period through Resolution No. 201-5778 of 9 July 2025, moving that deadline to 18 August 2025.
Filing runs through the DGI's FATCA & AEOI Portal, which validates submissions automatically and returns an electronic acknowledgment that serves as proof of compliance. Where the system flags an error, the DGI notifies the institution through the portal, and the institution must correct it for the relevant period.
A nil return is still required when an institution has nothing to report. Law 51 of 2016 sets sanctions for institutions, public officers, and private service providers who breach the regime; the specific monetary figures are set out in the DGI guidance and the full text of the law rather than reproduced here.
What CRS Means in Practice for Non-Resident Account Holders
If you hold an account at a Panamanian bank, broker, trust company, or investment entity, expect to be asked for a tax residency self-certification and your TIN. The institution will then share with your home tax authority your name, address, TIN, date and place of birth, account number, and year-end balance.
Accounts linked only to Panamanian tax residency are not reported, because the country does not report to itself. Only accounts tied to a tax residency in one of Panama's roughly 87 to 90 partner jurisdictions are captured, and once flagged, they are reported every year until you cease to be a Reportable Person.
Owners of Panamanian entities used as account holders face an extra layer. A private interest foundation, a corporation, or a similar vehicle is classified as an active or passive non-financial entity, and passive structures trigger look-through to their beneficial owners.
Enforcement capacity is building, not standing still. In April 2024 the Global Forum Secretariat and the Ministry of Economy and Finance co-hosted Panama City's first practical workshop on CRS compliance audits, drawing 38 participants from 15 jurisdictions.
Outlook: How Panama's CRS Position May Evolve
The direction of travel is more exchange, not less. Partner counts have moved from 32 in 2018 to 87 by reporting year 2024, and the DGI refreshed its FATCA and CRS guidance in October 2025.
Two developments may ease political friction around further expansion. Panama was removed from the EU's list of high-risk third countries in July 2025, in the same resolution that extended the CRS filing deadline.
The next frontier is crypto. The 2022 OECD amendments widened CRS to cover electronic money, central bank digital currencies, and indirect crypto exposure, and Panama's implementing rules will need to absorb these.
On the related Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, Panama is among the jurisdictions not yet signed on, alongside the Philippines and Vietnam. No adoption date has been published, so this remains a point to watch.
Conclusion
CRS is a settled feature of holding financial accounts in Panama, not a question of if but of how. A foreign account holder should assume that residency, identifying details, and year-end balances will reach their home tax authority each year, provided that home country is one of Panama's partners. The practical response is straightforward: keep self-certifications accurate, understand how any Panamanian entity you own is classified, and treat reporting as a continuing obligation rather than a one-off event.
How Expanship Can Help Your Business in Panama
Expanship supports foreign owners on the CRS-facing side of running a Panamanian entity, from understanding how a foundation or corporation is classified to keeping account documentation and self-certifications in order, and extends that support across the wider needs of a foreign-owned business in the country.
- Company formation, including corporations and private interest foundations
- Registered agent and registered office services
- Tax registration and annual filing
- Ongoing compliance management, including CRS-related obligations
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Introductions to banking partners
To discuss your situation, contact Expanship Panama.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Panama is a fully active CRS jurisdiction that completed its first automatic exchange in September 2018 and reported to 87 partner jurisdictions by reporting year 2024. Any financial account tied to a tax residency in one of its partner countries is in scope.
It will, if your home country is one of Panama's CRS partners, of which there are roughly 87 to 90. The shared data includes your name, address, TIN, date and place of birth, account number, and year-end balance, sent to your home tax authority through the DGI.
No. The United States does not use CRS and is not a CRS partner of Panama; US account information moves under a separate Model 1 FATCA agreement instead. The two regimes run on different legal bases.
From the 2019 tax year, the standard deadline is 31 July of the year following the reported tax year. For the 2024 period, the DGI extended this to 18 August 2025 under Resolution No. 201-5778.
No. Panama does not report accounts whose holders are tax-resident in Panama, because a country does not report to itself. Only accounts linked to residency in a partner jurisdiction are captured.
The entity is classified as an active or passive non-financial entity for CRS purposes. If it is passive, the institution looks through to the beneficial owners, whose residency and details may then be reported to their respective home authorities.
Legal Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the content, laws and regulations are subject to change, and the application of laws can vary widely based on specific facts and circumstances.
Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel tailored to their individual situation. Expanship and its authors disclaim any liability for actions taken or not taken based on the content of this article.
For specific advice regarding your business setup, compliance requirements, or any legal matters, please consult with qualified legal and tax professionals in the relevant jurisdiction.
