Any client that has completed a UK pension to overseas pension transfer would first have to have ensured that the receiving scheme was approved by the UK’s HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) as a QROPS – which is a Qualifying Recognized Overseas Pension Scheme.
Beyond the actual transfer, the receiving QROPS scheme has a continued responsibility to behave as a UK scheme – when it comes to the payment of pension benefits – for the Reporting Period.
During this period the QROPS provider has an obligation to report to HMRC any income, annuity, lump sum or death benefits payments to the member (or member’s dependents) in respect of the fund. But for how long, after the UK pension transfer to the QROPS has been made, does the scheme have an obligation to report payments?
A QROPS provider has to report any payment as long as the QROPS member:
• is resident in the UK when the payment is made (or treated as made), or
• although not resident in the UK at that time, has been resident in the UK earlier in the tax year in which the payment is made (or treated as made) or in any of the five tax years immediately preceding that tax year.
In short, the Reporting Period is 5 complete tax years of the member’s overseas residency. A return to the UK, in that period, could lead to the ‘5 year clock’ starting again and the QROPS scheme continuing to distribute and report any payments, as per HMRC legislation.
