The news today that Tesco has revealed record annual losses of £6.4 billion has been met with shock amongst the UK’s business community.
However, it will have been related announcements about the company’s pension scheme that will be worrying Tesco’s current and former employees.
With the April 9th deadline fast approaching, research shows that Independent Financial Advisers are seeing a large increase in the number of overseas residents seeking to transfer their UK teachers’ pensions into a QROPS. The guidance published by the UK government suggests that after April 9th the authorities will block forever the right to transfer these pensions away from the UK. This is all part of the new pensions regime being implemented by the government. Read More
There have of course been lots of chatter amongst commentators and within the global expat community about the proposed changes to the UK pensions regime.
Chancellor George Osborne gave his Autumn Statement recently which set out some more detail of the new rules. Here we will explain a little further about the latest situation and what some of the continued benefits are of non-residents moving their UK pensions to a QROPS.
QROPSreview.com has previously reported on the new pension regime proposed by Chancellor George Osborne.
Now it seems like the new flexibilities will also be on offer to QROPS members.
Jon Greer, pensions technical manager at Old Mutual Wealth said. “The reference in the Pensions Flexibility note published by HMRC caused some concern that there would be a further test of a person’s lifetime allowance and might therefore use up some LTA.
“However, what they were referring to is the rule which is currently in place but is being slightly amended to help QROPS members to receive the types of benefits that UK registered schemes will receive from April.”
When George Osborne announced plans for a new, flexible pension regime in his March 2014 Budget speech there was confusion as to how this would affect overseas pensions transfers and QROPS in particular.
However, new information has come to light suggesting that HM Revenue & Customs will seek to extend the new flexibility to Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) as well.
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs has released guidance speculating on the number of people who may choose to take money out of their pensions under the new pension regime.
QROPSreview.com has covered the proposed pension changes extensively and we have explained that the lack of a necessity to buy an annuity has in fact been the case since 2006.
The financial advisors that we have spoken to have agreed that while it may be possible to raid one’s pension, it is often not advisable to do so.
In HMRC’s first official analysis of the the Government’s pension changes, it estimates that up to 130 000 people per year will decide to withdraw money from their pension schemes.
The HMRC list of Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) was updated on 15th July with a record number of QROPS having been deleted.
HMRC’s list represents all overseas pension schemes that have told the UK authorities that they meet the conditions necessary to be a QROPS.
QROPSreview.com has previously reported on HMRC’s list and explained how it should be treated with some caution and should never be used as a guide as to which QROPS would be a good destination for a pension transfer.
The most recent changes have seen a total of 118 schemes removed from the list. Read More
QROPSreview.com has previously reported on the new pension rules proposed by George Osborne in his March 2014 Budget Statement. Much of the media was left scrambling to detail this so called hammerblow to the status quo. Many column inches were filled celebrating the end of the annuity.
As we explained, the reality was a little more mundane than the tabloids might have had you believe.
Now, four sobering months and an industry consultation later, the Chancellor has released updated guidance on what the new rules will mean in practise. He also took the opportunity to outline some of the new pieces of legislation which he feels will be needed.
It is probably a good idea to begin with the changes to the annuity rules. The current 10 year limit to annuity guarantees (whereby certain annuities will continue to pay out to a spouse in the event of death within the specified term) will be lifted, though likely not abolished. Read More
Over the last 30 years, the London property market has garnered near mythical status among investors. In spite of the worst economic slowdown for at least 70 years, house prices in the South East have proven surprisingly resilient.
However, expats wanting to invest in property in the UK’s capital have often found it hard to secure the buy-to-let mortgages that they need. While it certainly used to be somewhat easier, a lot of lenders exited the market during the downturn in the face of a broad based credit squeeze.
Now there is a new entrant promising to fulfill the latent demand from expats looking for an investment return from the UK property market. Read More
New research from insurance giant Prudential reveals that British expat pensioners living in the Eurozone have seen a large rise in the buying power of their UK state pension. This is due to an improved pound to euro exchange rate.
The research shows that UK pensioners living in the Eurozone enjoy an income from the state pension equivalent to €7,344.44, an increase of €661.24 since the same time last year.
Twenty-six percent of the increase was put down to a rise in the basic state pension from £110.15 a week to £113.10 a week announced by George Osborne in his April 2014 Budget. Read More
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