Tax avoidance and bending the rules had become such an issue for QROPS pensions that HM Revenue and Customs confessed a special tax force was investigating rogue advisers and providers.
HMRC declined to name and shame individuals but revealed a fraud unit was at work to close loopholes in QROPS rules and to stop advisers, providers and consumers from accessing pension cash.
Later in the year, scammer Colin Pearson was jailed for aiding expats to illegally access £3.5 million tied up in Barbados and Cyprus QROPS.
The Singapore QROPS row refused to lie down, with Panthera ROSSIP winning an order in the High Court, London, demanding HMRC should face them in court within 28 days.
Despite Panthera’s huffing and puffing, HMRC won the judicial review – but the provider promised to appeal.
UK government drops QROPS II bombshell
Just before Christmas, HMRC dropped an industry bombshell. QROPS faced rule changes and the government issued a new version of the offshore pensions for expats.
At the end of 2011, the QROPS market amounted to 2,816 pensions across 48 financial centres – and increase of more than 12% on the 2,505 QROPS available at the start of the year.
Australia had the most QROPS – 851, up 16% on the 733 offered 12 months earlier.
Ireland was in second place with 615, compared to 580 at the turn of the year, a 10% rise.
Between them, Australia and Ireland had half the QROPS market by number of pensions.
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 2010 – Singapore Legal Challenge Launched
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.