Prophecy Pensions Trustees, which is part of the MPH Fiduciary group of companies, said it wrote to HMRC in early April asking for a full explanation of why it had not yet registered its scheme.
David Griffiths, director of the company, said he has not yet received a reply from HMRC and will now make a formal complaint.
“We believe they are acting outside their remit,” said Griffiths. “There is no reason within any of the QROPS legislation to not award QROPS status to our product, or any other Isle of Man QROPS under 50c.”
HMRC announced its review of the legislation last December and has since stopped registering any Isle of Man domiciled QROPS.
However, one scheme, Boal & Co’s Trinity Plan, which was initially registered in October, has remained on HMRC’s list of registered QROPS.
Griffiths said: “We believe the fact they have already registered the Trinity plan begs the questions as to why they are not registering other QROPS.”
There is concern among providers that the slow progress of the review could put the jurisdiction in a similar situation to Gibraltar, where since September 2009 providers have stopped making QROPS transfers due to HMRC concerns about the local tax regime.
The Isle of Man Association of Pension Providers has asked the Manx government to step in to help expedite the review. Malcolm Couch, the Isle of Man’s Assessor of Income Tax, confirmed his department has been in discussions with HMRC but said details of those discussions were confidential.
Stephen Ward, director of IFA firm Premier Pensions Solutions, said 50c legislation stretched to no more than one page, meaning a review should not take six months. He added that 50c replicated what is set out in UK rules regarding lump sum benefits and should therefore meet HMRC approval.
“The Isle of Man Association of Pension Providers and the Isle of Man regulators should be doing more to pressure HMRC into completing its review of the legislation,” he added.
