“HMRC wouldn’t set a date before the [UK’s emergency] Budget,” says one Gibraltar QROPS industry spokesman. “But all that is required now is a face-to-face meeting.”
Gibraltar officials were unavailable for comment.
It is generally thought that at such a meeting, HMRC officials will sign off on an agreed deal that was first reported by International Adviser in January. Under this deal, a minor change would be made to Gibraltar’s pension laws which would see a small tax levied on the pension income of over-60s living in Gibraltar whose pensions had been transferred from the UK.
The delay in resolving the matter has been prolonged first by the UK election on 6 May, and then by the emergency budget, unveiled on 22 June, sources said.
HMRC first recognised Gibraltar as a jurisdiction to which UK pensions could be transferred in November, 2008. In April of 2009, though, Gibraltar QROPS administrators began receiving letters from the Revenue enquiring about the territory’s 0% tax on over-sixties’ pensions.
HMRC is said to regard a 0% tax as inconsistent with QROPS regulations.
