When the Revenue’s latest list of registered Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes was published yesterday, 23 of the 25 schemes which had appeared on the list on 15 July, had been removed.
However, a spokesperson for HMRC said it “cannot discuss the reason why a particular scheme no longer appears on the QROPS list”.
The spokesperson added: “HMRC keeps the QROPS regime under review. In addition, HMRC will always be in contact with a scheme before removing it from the published list.
“If members of one of these schemes are concerned about it being removed from the published list, their first point of contact should be the scheme manager.”
The spokesperson did, however, provide a link to a technical guide (which may be found here) which provides a number of potential reasons for a scheme’s removal.
As stated by the Revenue’s spokesperson, schemes which are about to be removed are notified and are told why.
One piece of correspondence from a Hong Kong based QROPS trustee, seen by International Adviser, suggests schemes were told by HMRC that it had decided Hong Kong’s pensions regulations are insufficient to qualify schemes based there as QROPS.
However, it has also been suggested that HMRC has changed how it views certain types of occupational pension schemes, with it making a distinction between schemes which have applied for an exemption from regulation and those that have not.
It is understood that those schemes which opted not to be regulated are among those which have been removed from the list.
