Pension trustees on the Isle of Man, meanwhile, have been told that a review of its new “50c” QROPS-enabling legislation by HMRC is nearly complete, and understand that it is likely to be good news for them, with the Revenue expected to say that 50c schemes meet its requirements to accept QROPS transfers.
Only one company, Boal & Co, has had a 50c plan approved, although some 170 QROPS schemes approved under the IoM’s existing legislation are up and running, according to HMRC’s current list. Pre-existing Isle of Man QROPS were not covered by the review.
In a letter to the APSP earlier this month, HMRC told the Isle of Man Association of Pension Scheme Providers that once it has formal confirmation of the conclusion and the indicated outcome of the review, it would deal with all outstanding applications for QROPS recognition simultaneously, association chairman Stuart Clifford, who is also a principal of Baker Tilly Isle of Man, told International Adviser recently.
As reported here last July, Jersey, which has had QROPS for residents since 2006, had been expected to have entered the “third-country” QROPS market by as early as January. But the changes to its pension legislation that would be necessary to enable non-Jersey residents to transfer their pensions to Jersey-based qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes are taking longer than some there had anticipated.
Still, Wendy Martin, Jersey’s director of tax policy, said she expects to be meeting with HM Revenue & Customs officials “shortly” to discuss the matter, “and then I think we’ll be moving forward.”
Gibraltar officials were not available for comment, but sources familiar with the situation there said they believed the ability of Gibraltar-based STM Fidecs to come up with a specially-designed QROPS scheme that passed muster by both Gibraltar’s income tax commissioner and HMRC had pushed the issue up the Gibraltar government’s agenda.
Trustees there suspended pension transfers more than 20 months ago as a result of HMRC’s alleged concern that the jurisdiction’s 0% tax on the pension income of residents over the age of 60 was inconsistent with the UK’s QROPS regulations.
