HMRC have published version eight of the savings income reporting guidance notes.

These guidance notes accompany the Government's legislation implementing European Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings in the form of interest payments, adopted at a meeting of the ECOFIN Council on 3 June 2003. The Directive is designed to combat tax evasion by individuals on cross-border savings income.

Under the Directive, information is collected about the payment of savings income to residents in certain other countries and exchanged automatically with tax authorities in those countries. The Reporting of Savings Income Information Regulations set out the detailed rules for the UK scheme implementing the Directive. These guidance notes support the regulations and provide practical advice on how UK paying agents can meet their obligations. The Directive and the regulations took effect from 1 July 2005.

The Savings Directive requires the UK to automatically forward to the competent authorities of other EU Member States information on payments of savings income by UK paying agents to residents of the other Member States.

The updated Guidance can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/esd-guidance/sir-guidance.pdf