Industry speculation that the general election or significant changes in the number of Rops caused the two-day delay in updating the list can be put to rest, Davies told International Adviser.
“The general election was not, it would seem, responsible, and the number of leavers and entrants are not that many.”
Davies believes the delay could stem from “the FCA and HMRC working together”.
He said that the number of Section 166 skilled person reviews being issued by the Financial Conduct Authority to firms that have operated Qrop schemes shows “there are compliance issues and these need addressing”.
“I don’t think this is the last we will hear from HMRC on this, however attention now seems to be switching to the FCA showing an interest in business practices.
“The real message being delivered might be that UK advisers and providers needing to toughen their compliance processes,” Davies said.
New list
When it was updated on Wednesday, the total number of schemes on the list fell by three.
Australian scheme numbers rebounded to 413, while Jersey and Guernsey all reported sharp declines.
Australia experienced an almost total wipeout when HMRC scrapped around 1,600 of the country’s Rops from the list in 2015, leaving just one.
Guernsey and Jersey continued their declines in terms of scheme numbers. Guernsey now has nearly half as many schemes as it did before the list was suspended. There are currently 27 Qrops on the list, down from 52. However, the Channel Island lost around 100 schemes when the list was suspended in April.
Similarly, Jersey now has 29 schemes, down from 48 in April and 84 before Hammond announced the changes to Qrops.
Transfer charge
A 25% charge will be levied on overseas pension transfers to non-European Economic Area countries unless the transfer is made to the same country in which the pension pot owner will live.
A caveat has been added, however, that the charge can be levied retroactively if the pension pot owner moves to another non-EEA country within five years of the transfer date.
