February 2010

TAKING YOUR TAX POT ABROAD

Director Grant Rudloff

Auker Rhodes Chartered Accountants are reminding that anyone looking to retire abroad may wish to consider transferring their UK pension overseas as well, in order to benefit from a low or tax-free pension income.

Crucially, by using a Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS), it is not necessary for the pension to be registered in the holder’s country of residence so they could, for example, retire to a popular retirement destination such as France or Spain, but move the pension to a light-tax jurisdiction like Monaco or the Channel Islands.

Grant Rudloff from Auker Rhodes said “This has the potential to significantly reduce tax paid on pension income – for example in Spain, annuity income is taxed at a rate of up to 2.66%, while in countries which do not have a tax treaty with the UK, tax on pension income would be deducted at source. However, once a pension is transferred to a QROPS, the lack of a tax treaty becomes irrelevant, and the only tax charged (if any), will be that levied at the country in which the QROPS is held”.

Apart from tax havens, many other countries have lower top rates of tax than the UK – for example, the top rate in Singapore is 20%, while in Hong Kong it is 16%, although in the latter country, foreign pensions (including QROPS) are not taxed at all.

It is also possible to transfer to a QROPS in a country where there is no requirement to purchase an annuity on retirement, which may be of interest in some circumstances, although if a pension is taken as a lump sum, care needs to be taken not to breach HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regulations.

For more information please contact us.

The author is a senior manager in Auker Rhodes Limited Chartered Accountants of Bradford, members of UK200Group with offices throughout the UK and Associates overseas. 

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