Articles added in March-2010

There is often confusion about exactly when the 5 year period, during which your QROPS must behave in the same way as a UK pension scheme, starts. The general mis-conception is that it commences at the point when you make your pension transfer to a QROPS.

With the expected crackdown from Alistair Darling on offshore tax evaders in tomorrows budget – must come a need for IFA’s to know they are not becoming unwittingly caught up in the net. How many understand the implication of Gaines-Cooper, Double Tax Agreements, Visas and QROPS. A lot of learning is required very, very quickly!

The chances that the Gaines Cooper ruling got a mention in the foreign press are extremely slim. But yet non-UK advisors advising on Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) need to wake up to the reality that QROPS are not to be trifled with. To put it bluntly non-UK advisors are advising on the UK tax residency status of their clients, with potentially very, very serious tax consequences if they do not build a non-UK tax residency strategy. Understanding domicile and tax residency and double tax agreements is not a luxury but an absolute must.

One of the biggest barriers to delivering our financial advice quickly to our clients is our reliance on obtaining information from occupational pension scheme administrators, particularly in relation to the Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP).

This article explains how the problem is set to get worse in the near future and therefore how vital it is that you come to us early in relation to your migration planning and possible overseas pension transfer advice.

The European Court of Human Rights yeasterday rejected an appeal from a group of UK expatriate pensioners by an 11 to 6 majority. This decision highlights the importance of pre departure pensions and Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pensions (QROPS) planning for the next generations of UK expatriates and those currently planning their departure from the UK, to those overseas juristictions which have no reciprocal pension arrangement.

Himesh Chauhan joins the Offshore QROPS adviser team as a QROPS Financial Paraplanner

A day doesn’t go by without a newspaper discussing the economic problems of funding people living longer and the desire to retire earlier.