Qrops

Oyanji

I'm thinking of moving overseas, does anybody have advice in the area of QROPS.

casterman

I have completed one transfer to a QROPS and in the process of transferring another.

Found no problems at all. What are you looking for in a QROPS?

Celtic

We live in Turkey and would like to find a decent Qrops company.
Are there any established international banks/pension/insurance companys that do them?

jamesd

HMRC has a list of all QROPS and you can find the three in Turkey in that list.

It is not necessarily the case that it is to your best advantage to use a QROPS provider in the jurisdiction where you are living.

Celtic

Thank you
There is a local bank we use that is listed and exchange rates are favorable at the moment.
The difficult part now is finding out about the local scheme and if its any good, the money will be invested for 10 years or more!
Then working out the process of moving the pension.

Iancfp

QROPS are to be avoided at present following the HMRC case against Equity Trust the High court has allowed HMRC to put a 55% or 70% tax charge on any QROPs it likes.

Wait for clarity on tax situation

jamesd

HMRC hasn't done that except in case of clear abuse.

Celtic, don't just assume that your best choice is to use a Turkish QROPS. At an absolute minimum you should look at Guernsey and Isle of Man QROPS options to see whether they offer you tax benefits.

Iancfp

jamesd wrote: »

HMRC hasn't done that except in case of clear abuse.

Wrong - the case against Equity Trust was merely that it broke the rules by not having local members which no QROPs do leaving them all open to same charge

Granted the HMRC taking action on a EU or EEA scheme is more politically difficult but currently why rush into something with such a potential risk

jamesd

I was aware of the reasons for the decision against Equity Trust, which were in part:

1. That it was not registered with the local regulator and tax authorities. So condition A of the QROPS regulations couldn't be used to make it legitimate.
2. Since condition A couldn't be used, the condition B conditions had to be met. And HMRC's view was that it was not open to local residents even if they wanted to use it, so it didn't comply with the B set of conditions.

There are plenty of QROPS available that are properly registered with their local regulators and tax authorities and avoiding all A schemes seems like an over-reaction to this decision about a B scheme.

Isle of Man laws specifically do permit local residents to be members of a QROPS and were recently largely rewritten to try to ensure that they meet HMRC requirements. I'm sure there are others with similar practices.

The open to local residents part was more complicated than it seemed, because HMRC argued that even though the trust deed for the scheme said it was open to local residents, HMRC claimed that the trustees would have discretion to refuse to accept local residents. That reasoning is one that would be a concern for other type B QROPS so I suppose some trust deeds are going to end up being changed.

The Singapore decision was more interesting and worrying, IMO. I'd personally worry about any scheme that allowed large withdrawing of funds from the scheme, even though I'd hope that HMRC vets local law and scheme rules before listing them as acceptable, something it seems not to have done. I think that's allowing unnecessary uncertainty and risk for pension holders and is something that HMRC should change. I also think that applying large penalties on individual investors for using a scheme that HMRC has listed is not reasonable.

Your reaction makes it pretty clear that HMRC is harming the QROPS regime through its actions.

For Celtic's case I'm inclined to agree with you that there doesn't seem to be any rush because lack of knowledge about the options available within UK schemes seems to be playing a part in the interest in a QROPS.

Celtic

I have been to the two most likley local banks who offer pensions from the UK goverment list.

Both are widly used by local Turkish people so this should not be an issue.

The Uk goverment does say if you check the list a few days before transfer, you will have take resonable precautions to see if a scheme is compatable. You would be unlikley to be penalised later should that scheme be removed.

The Turkish pension plans appear to offer all we need, the local banks can be visited easily and the plans managed online.
Unlike online brokers who you never know where they are.

All the funds in the pension fund are garanted by the goverment here.