Expats and their adviser can be forgiven wondering how they can keep up with the rules about transferring their pensions to offshore QROPS as the list they must check for compliant schemes has changed twice in a day.
HM Revenue & Customs published the QROPS List on June 7, 2017, after suspending the list on June 5.
The list had the details of 932 pensions across 29 financial centres.
Later the same day, a second list was published , but the Isle of Man Post Office Superannuation (Amendment) Scheme 2010 was missing.
HMRC gave no hint about which scheme was missing or which financial centre was involved, meaning everyone with a transfer in progress had to check if their scheme was still a QROPS to avoid tax penalties.
No warning is given about list changes – advisers, retirement savers and pension providers have to constantly monitor the list for changes.
List purpose is unclear
The purpose of the list is becoming unclear.
The list does not say if a QROPS meets qualifying standards – such as passing the pension age test that does not allow payments to anyone under the age of 55. Instead, providers must self-certify that their schemes are compliant with the rules.
However, many seem to not know what the rules are as dozens of pensions in Australia and Canada that self-certified they were QROPS earlier this year clearly failed the qualifying tests and were removed.
Meanwhile, providers transferring funds to a scheme that is not a QROPS are fined, as are pension savers.
HMRC states that inclusion on the list does not imply approval or endorsement by the tax service and that no guarantee is provided that a listed scheme is a QROPS.
“HMRC can’t guarantee these [pensions] are [Q]ROPS or that any transfers to them will be free of UK tax. It’s your responsibility to find out if you have to pay tax on any transfer of pension savings,” says the HMRC web site.
QROPS List By Financial Jurisdiction
| Country | Number of QROPS |
|---|---|
| Australia | 413 |
| Austria | 6 |
| Barbados | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 3 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| European Union | 1 |
| Finland | 1 |
| Germany | 9 |
| Gibraltar | 31 |
| Guernsey | 27 |
| Hong Kong | 21 |
| Hungary | 1 |
| India | 13 |
| Ireland | 51 |
| Isle of Man | 230 |
| Jersey | 29 |
| Kenya | 1 |
| Latvia | 3 |
| Liechtenstein | 1 |
| Luxembourg | 2 |
| Malta | 34 |
| Mauritius | 2 |
| Netherlands | 13 |
| New Zealand | 30 |
| Norway | 1 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| Spain | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Total: | 931 |
Source: HMRC
The table shows the net number of schemes, accounting for new listings and removals since the publication of the last list.
