Advisor Liability Under FATCA

Offshore Tax with HTJ.tax · Oct 2, 2025 · 6m

Can an advisor get into trouble for giving technically true—but incomplete—advice? Under FATCA, the answer is yes.Take the example of Svalbard. Norway has a FATCA Model 1 IGA with the U.S., but Svalbard is excluded from the treaty definition of “Kingdom of Norway.” That means a financial institution in Svalbard could, in theory, be treated as a non-participating foreign financial institution.The problem arises when an advisor uses that narrow fact to suggest a broader loophole, while leaving out critical context. That transforms a technical truth into a misleading strategy. U.S. prosecutors…