Finally debt free and now need to make up some ground.

xylophone

You would have to declare it in the UK but in your situation??

The expert in expat finance would certainly seem to be the answer in your case!

Treborz

Sorry to resurrect this thread BUT i would be extremely concerned that you have effectively busted your pension through a 100% commutation.

I work for a QROPS Trustee in Guernsey and we do not permit 100% lump sum withdrawals regardless of the amount of time members have been non-UK resident for tax purposes. This is because Guernsey pension legislation also states that 70% must be retained to provide an income for life. I would be interested to know which QROPS jurisdiction you used especially as you say that the investment people that sold you the product are based in the UK.

Finally HMRC have recently released a consultation note on changes to overseas pensions legislation which will likely come into effect on 06th April 2012. One of these changes is that the reporting period is to be changed to 10 years from the date of transfer so i hope for your sake that it is not retrospective. The main purpose of these changes is to prevent the 100% withdrawals of QROPS funds which some New Zealand schemes were permitting (becuase their local legislation says they can) which they will no longer be allowed to do because now every QROPS jurisdiction will need to retain 70% to provide an income for life.

Unfortunately for Guernsey it also means that we need to look at changing our local pension legislation as the final change means that residents and non-residents of a QROPS jurisdiction must now be taxed at the same levels. Currently non-residents are paid exempt with residents having their tax withheld.