Is your pension transfer safe? How Brexit could impact your pension transfer.
Following Brexit, and amidst resulting changes in UK pension legislation, an increasing number of Britons are looking to leave the UK before the end of the December 2020 EU transitional period and looking to take their pension with them. Many are transferring their personal pensions to Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS).
A QROPS is an offshore pension that the provider certifies meets the UK rules and criteria, allowing the scheme to receive transfers from pensions in the UK and other QROPS. There are regular updates of the overseas ROPS Scheme List, and if a pension scheme is not on the list, expats are unable to transfer into the scheme.
Currently, the pension transfer process is tax-free for pensions moving from the UK to New Zealand, when both the individual and pension savings transfers.
For New Zealand residents pension transfers to other offshore schemes carry a 25% levy, and there is growing concern that this charge may extend to transfers to tax-free nations like New Zealand QROPS, after the post-Brexit transitional period.
If so, UK expats will have a two-year window to transfer their pensions to a certified QROPS, tax-free, a process that may be further complicated by Brexit residency rules and the increasing slowdown in the transfer process.
The future remains uncertain for UK expats regarding QROPS and pension transfers post-Brexit. Particularly regarding pension transfers to currently tax-free nations such as New Zealand. If you are considering transferring your pensions to a QROPS you are advised to speak to a certified Independent Financial Advisor to assist you through the process.
If you are looking to transfer into a New Zealand QROPS, Ranfurly Strategic offer a listed Superannuation Scheme, as well as an agent that can assist you through the transfer process, prepare transfer forms, and assist in obtaining the required UK and NZ advice that you need. The Ranfurly Scheme is listed on the UK Government Recognised Pension Schemes List.
To get in touch with Ranfurly, contact us by filling in this enquiry form.
For more detailed information on the impact that Brexit could have on your UK pension, click here to download QROPS NZ’s ‘The Brexit Effect’.