A busy year for QROPS as HM Revenue and Customs and providers stood toe to toe arguing over the validity of some international pensions.
Rumours from Singapore suggested more than a thousand QROPS investors had transferred out of the delisted Panthera ROSSIP in February.
Later in the month, the scheme administrators launched a legal challenge in the High Court, London, against HMRC’s interpretation of QROPS rules. The claim was given the green light by the court in August.
Meanwhile, Gibraltar’s stop-go relationship with QROPS stuttered on with providers still applying a voluntary bar on transfers. Local sources claimed agreement over tax issues had been reached with HMRC a couple of times, but no transfers went ahead.
In March, the first three QROPS opened in Malta.
QROPS transfers pass £1 billion mark
In Hong Kong, HMRC punished advisers over misleading QROPS claims.
The 30% tax-free lump sum for QROPS investors was launched with a new Trinity QROPS in the Isle of Man despite claims of tax abuse from IFAs in other jurisdictions.
When the Isle of Man saw QROPS delisted soon after, everyone thought the IFAs were right, but the delisting turned out to be an error by an HMRC clerk compiling the QROPS list and all were immediately reinstated.
The year ended with HMRC issuing freedom of information statistics that by the end of the year, more than £1 billion had been transferred out of UK onshore pensions to QROPS since April 6, 2006.
QROPS Year by Year Summary
We review and summarise the QROPS news for each year from the launch of QROPS to now. Click on the below links to read:
QROPS OFFSHORE PENSIONS AFTER 10 YEARS
QROPS 2006 – A-Day Launches New Offshore Pension
QROPS 2007 – A Year Of Explosive Growth
QROPS 2008 – HMRC Cracks Down On Rogue Pensions
QROPS 2009 – Gibraltar Tax Problem Rocks Expats
QROPS 2011 – Rooting Out The Rogues
QROPS 2012 – Hundreds of Pensions Delisted
QROPS 2013 – HMRC Humiliated In High Court
QROPS 2014 – Flexible Access On the Way
QROPS 2015 – No One Foresaw The Pension Age Test
QROPS 2016 – The Story So Far… But Not The End
Further QROPS Information and Guidance
For more information about QROPS and the benefits it provides, download the iExpats QROPS Guide or complete the Get Advice form.
