If your buyer is in another country, the requirements become a bit more complex. You or your staff won’t be seeing them, and can’t personally check that the identification documents are originals, or that the information (and possibly signatures) match the information the client has given you.

In this situation you will need to use what the regulations call an agent or mandatary (someone given a ‘mandate’ to act for you).  This person will meet with your buyer in the foreign country, to confirm that the person is who they say they are by viewing his or her identification documents.

Bottom line tip:

For individuals who are buying from a foreign country for themselves, the simplest strategy is to have an agent or mandatory meet your buyer(s), record their name, address, date of birth and occupation, and take a photocopy of the relevant pages of their original, valid, foreign passport.

What do you have to do? (individuals)

You have to retain an agent or mandatory, using a written agreement which sets out what information they will collect for you, and how they will verify it through government-issued information documents. They have to send this information back to you.  You remain responsible for making sure the FINTRAC requirements are met.

As for other individual identification documents, the agent or mandatary will need to send you the number and type of identification document used, the country and agency that issued it, and the expiry date (to confirm that the document is still valid). 

Foreign identification documents must be equivalent to the Canadian ones listed here.

What do you have to do? (corporations and other entities)

Again, you will need a contract with an agent or mandatory, who will meet with the company’s representative and verify:

• the representative’s own information and identity
• the name, address and type of business for the corporation, partnership, cooperative, association, or other entity
• the existence of the corporation or entity
• (for corporations), the list of directors (record within 30 days)

Identification documents for companies must be equivalent to the Canadian ones listed here.

When do you have to do it?

Your agent or mandatory should collect and verify the information when the Offer to Purchase is signed. If this is not possible, they should do it as soon as possible afterwards. 

NB: FINTRAC publishes notices about countries where you may need to be extra careful about sales and identification. Click here for more details.

For more information:

Click here for FINTRAC's guideline section, check the FINTRAC website, www.fintrac-canafe.gc.ca, or call the toll free number, 1-866-346-8722.

Acceptable documents

Acceptable documents for identification of a person must have a unique identifying number and be issued by a provincial, territorial or federal government (or foreign equivalent). The document has to be valid and cannot have expired.

This can include:

• birth certificate  (except birth or baptismal certificates issued by a church rather than a government body)
• driver’s licence
• provincial health insurance card (except in Ontario, Manitoba or Prince Edward Island where it’s illegal to use health cards for identification); in Quebec, you cannot ask for a person’s health card but can accept it if the person wants to use it for identification
• passport
• record of landing
• permanent resident card
• certificate of Indian status
• provincial or territorial identification card issued by any of the following or their successors:
  • the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia
  • Alberta Registries
  • Saskatchewan Government Insurance
  • the Department of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations
  • the Department of Transportation and Public Works of the Province of Prince Edward Island
  • Service New Brunswick
  • the Department of Government Services and Lands of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador
  • the Department of Transportation of the Northwest Territories, or
  • the Department of Community Government and Transportation of the Territory of Nunavut
• other similar document

An employee identification card issued by an employer is not acceptable, even when the employer is a government department or agency.

NB: If your buyer wants to use his or her Social Insurance Number (SIN) for identification, that is acceptable, but the number itself must not be given to FINTRAC on any type of report. Instead, note on your records that the SIN card was presented and matched the person’s name.

Acceptable Identification for Corporations or Other Business Entities

Acceptable documents for confirming the existence of a corporation include:

• the corporation’s certificate of corporate status;
• a record that has to be filed annually under provincial securities legislation; or
• any other record that confirms the corporation’s existence. Examples of these include the corporation’s published annual report signed by an independent audit firm, or a letter or a notice of assessment for the corporation from a municipal, provincial, territorial or federal government.

An electronic version is acceptable if it comes from a government agency; otherwise you should get a paper copy.

Acceptable documents for confirming the names of the corporation’s directors include:

• the list included with the company’s application for incorporation (this would usually require only the first few pages of the articles of incorporation) 
• an online listing from the Corporations Canada database on Industry Canada’s website at www.ic.gc.ca (go to the Company Directories page and follow the link to the Corporations Canada database)
• similar information from a corporation searching and registration service

To confirm the existence of other types of company/entity, refer to its partnership agreement, articles of association or similar public record.

If the record is in paper format, you have to keep the record or a copy of it.  If the record is an electronic version, it must be from a public (government) source. For these, you have to keep a record of the corporation’s registration number, the type and source of the record.