🎙️ PODCAST SHOWNOTES
Can HMRC Obtain Information from a Svalbard Trustee?
When an offshore trust has a trustee resident in Svalbard, an important enforcement question arises:
How can HMRC obtain information about the trust if it opens a UK tax investigation?
The answer requires separating two different mechanisms:
1. HMRC's domestic information-gathering powers
and
2. International exchange-of-information arrangements.
The fact that a trustee is outside the United Kingdom does not necessarily make information inaccessible. But HMRC's ability to compel production directly from a foreign person can be materially different from its powers over UK persons.
⚖️ 1️⃣ HMRC's Schedule 36 Powers
Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008 gives HMRC extensive powers to obtain information and documents reasonably required for checking a taxpayer's tax position.
Depending on the circumstances, HMRC may seek information from:
• The taxpayer
• UK professional advisers
• Banks and financial institutions
• Corporate service providers
• Other third parties holding relevant information
Accordingly, an offshore structure does not prevent HMRC from investigating information already held within the United Kingdom.
🏢 2️⃣ The Offshore Company
Consider the structure:
UK PROPERTY
↓
OFFSHORE COMPANY
↓
OFFSHORE TRUST
↓
SVALBARD-RESIDENT TRUSTEE
HMRC may potentially obtain information about the offshore company from UK persons or institutions that possess relevant records.
This could include, depending on the facts:
• UK solicitors
• Accountants
• Property managers
• Banks
• Corporate agents
• Other relevant third parties
The existence of an offshore company therefore does not place all information concerning the structure beyond HMRC's reach.
🌍 3️⃣ Direct Enforcement Against a Foreign Entity Is Different
A separate question is whether HMRC can serve and effectively enforce an information notice directly against an offshore company or trustee with no UK presence.
Cross-border enforcement is more complicated than exercising information powers against a UK-resident person.
Questions can arise concerning:
• The statutory scope of the particular information power
• Territorial application
• The foreign person's UK connections
• Available enforcement mechanisms
• Applicable international assistance arrangements
For that reason, the legal ability to issue a notice should be distinguished from the practical ability to enforce compliance abroad.
🏔️ 4️⃣ Why Svalbard Requires Separate Analysis
Svalbard occupies a distinctive legal and fiscal position within the Kingdom of Norway.
Accordingly, it should not automatically be assumed that every international tax agreement applying to mainland Norway applies identically to Svalbard.
For any particular treaty or information-exchange mechanism, the territorial scope of the instrument must be examined carefully.
This is particularly relevant when considering:
• Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR)
• Automatic exchange arrangements
• Multilateral tax cooperation agreements
• Bilateral tax treaties
🔎 5️⃣ International Exchange of Information
Where HMRC cannot obtain information directly, international agreements may sometimes allow the UK to request assistance from another jurisdiction's tax authority.
Whether such a route is available for information physically or legally situated in Svalbard depends on the territorial scope and operation of the relevant agreement.
It would therefore be unsafe to conclude simply from Svalbard's special status that no information-exchange route exists without examining the particular treaty or convention in force at the relevant time.
📋 6️⃣ The ROE Provides a Separate Information Trail
Where an overseas entity owns qualifying UK property, the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) may provide UK authorities with information concerning the ownership structure.
The ROE and HMRC's investigative powers perform different functions.
The ROE may assist authorities in identifying:
• The overseas entity
• Relevant beneficial owners
• Trust involvement where reportable
• Persons associated with the ownership chain
But identification of the structure does not automatically give HMRC direct compulsory jurisdiction over every foreign trustee or person identified through that structure.
🧩 7️⃣ HMRC Can Build Information from Multiple Sources
Even where obtaining documents directly from a foreign trustee proves difficult, HMRC may attempt to reconstruct the relevant facts using other sources.
These may include:
• Companies House information
• Land Registry records
• UK tax returns
• Banking information
• Professional advisers
• Corporate records
• International information requests
• Beneficiaries, settlors, or other persons within UK jurisdiction
Therefore, the absence of a straightforward direct enforcement mechanism against a foreign trustee does not necessarily prevent an investigation.
⚠️ 8️⃣ Information Accessibility Is Not the Same as Tax Liability
This distinction is particularly important.
Whether HMRC can easily obtain records from a Svalbard trustee is an enforcement and information question.
Whether UK tax is legally due is a substantive tax question.
The two should not be conflated.
Difficulty obtaining foreign information does not extinguish a UK tax liability, reporting obligation, or disclosure requirement that otherwise exists.
🎯 Key Takeaway
HMRC's ability to investigate a structure involving a Svalbard-resident trustee operates through several possible channels.
HMRC may:
✅ Exercise domestic information powers against persons within the scope of UK law
✅ Obtain information from UK advisers and other relevant third parties where legally permitted
✅ Use UK property and corporate transparency records
✅ Consider applicable international exchange-of-information mechanisms
Direct compulsory enforcement against a Svalbard-resident trustee with no UK presence presents a different legal question and requires careful analysis of both UK statutory powers and the territorial scope of applicable international agreements.
In practice:
A Svalbard trustee should not be described as categorically beyond HMRC's reach. The more precise conclusion is that direct cross-border compulsion may present additional jurisdictional and enforcement issues, while HMRC may still obtain substantial information about the structure through UK records, third parties, and any international assistance mechanisms that apply.
The crucial distinction is between seeing the structure, obtaining its underlying records, and establishing the resulting tax liability—three separate stages of an HMRC investigation.
