RPSM02402020 - Employer pages: Registering a pension scheme with HMRC: applying for registration: Who can be a scheme administrator?

Who can be a scheme administrator?

The scheme administrator can be anyone you wish, including yourself, and can be more than one person, providing the person or persons you appoint (including yourself, if appointed) is/are resident in one of the following countries

• the United Kingdom (UK),
• another EU member state,
• a European Economic Area (EEA) state which is not a member of the EU (that is, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein).

If the scheme administrator is not resident in one of these countries, the pension scheme cannot be a registered pension scheme and cannot benefit from the tax privileges available to such pension schemes.

The scheme administrator, as part of the online process for registering the scheme, has to make certain declarations to HMRC.

If more than one person is appointed as scheme administrator, each is jointly and severally liable for any tax charges or penalties due on the scheme administrator. This means that each is responsible for the entire amount, but if one settles the entire amount due, the others are no longer liable.