Requests for tax information from Spanish authorities (FOI)

​Original ​Request 691258071

Dear Treasury and Resources Department – Office of the Comptroller of taxes:

1. Can I know how many requests for exchange of information in tax matters have you received from the Spanish tax authorities in the years 2020 to 2023?

2. Can I know how many requests have you answered to the Spanish tax authorities in the years 2020 to 2023?

3. Can the members of the public know the identity of the legal and/or beneficial owners of a specific trust whose trustee is a Jersey resident, irrespective of the nature of those owners – natural persons or legal persons?

4. Can the members of the public know the identity of the legal and/or beneficial owners of a specific trust whose trustee is a Jersey resident, if those owners are legal persons or entities?

Yours faithfully.

Original Response

​1 & 2

The Comptroller of Revenue, as delegated competent authority for Jersey’s tax agreements, cannot disclose information regarding exchanges with specific jurisdictions due to Jersey’s obligations under the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Article 29 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

3 & 4 

There is no publicly accessible register of beneficial owners of trusts whose trustees are resident in Jersey.

Article applied 

Article 29 - Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it –

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.​

Internal Review Request  

FOI request number 691258071 – request for internal review.

Dear internal reviewer:

Many thanks for your recent response to my FOI request.

Your response to my questions 3 & 4 provides me useful information.

I disagree with your response to my questions 1& 2.

I think that it has not a true legal basis. I think that my FOI request is not incompatible with an international obligation (the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters).

1. Article 22 of the Convention only refers to the duty of secrecy of the requesting tax authority. That article doesn’t mention in any case the duty of secrecy of the supplying tax authority.

2. The name of the treaty parties – inter alia Jersey and Spain- is publicly available.

3. The information requested doesn’t refer to any particular information exchanged or its content.

4. The information requested is merely quantitative or statistical.

5. The information requested refers to the “activity and effectiveness” of Revenue Jersey, what is something very different from a prohibited disclosure of confidential information. 

6. Revenue Jersey is not exempt from FOI Law, nor his activity is exempt from FOI Law.

In any case, if I don’t receive the information requested, I´ll try to rewrite the FOI request in other terms.

Kind regards.  

Internal Review Response 

This internal review has been conducted by an official of appropriate seniority who has not been involved in the original decision. As part of their review, they will be expected to understand the reasons behind the original response, impartially determine whether the response should be revised, and how so, considering the request and the information held, any relevant exemptions, or other relevant matters under the Law.    

The Internal Review Panel was asked to review the original response and confirm the following:    

Does the FOI request relate to a body to which the Law applies, or information held by a body covered by the Law?    

If the answer is no, all the other questions are not applicable.        

Further questions if above is a yes:     

i. Was the right information searched for and reviewed? (supply audit if possible)  

ii. Was the information supplied appropriately (supply evidence if possible)  

iii. Was information appropriately withheld in accordance with the articles applied and were the public interest test/ prejudice test properly applied? (supply supporting documents re the test if possible)   

Following discussion, it was agreed by the Panel that: 

i)

The correct information was searched for and reviewed. 

ii)

N/A

iii)

Information was appropriately withheld in accordance with Article 29 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

On that basis, it was the decision of the Internal Review Panel that the original response be upheld. 

Article applied 

Article 29 - Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it –

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.