Dondy

I moved to australia in 2004, and transferred UK pension to an industry fund (QROPS approved) in 2008. I have since transferred the funds out into an SMSF in 2010 - my SMSF is not QROPS approved and I understood it didn't need to be as we have been non UK resident for more than 5 clear UK tax years before the monies were put into the SMSF. Can anyone confirm if this is correct? and point me in the direction of a legislative reference just in case? Thanks

Andrew Williams

This should answer your question:

Q. If a transfer was originally received by a QROPS and then subsequently transferred to a non-QROPS, what are the taxation implications ? Does the period that the member has been not resident in the UK have any impact?

A. The individual would be liable to an unauthorised payments charge unless when the subsequent transfer was made he/she was not resident for tax purposes in the UK and had neither been UK resident in that UK tax year nor in any of the previous five tax years.

See here for reference http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/faqs.htm#36

Regards

Andy

jorgon

Hi Dondy
I agree that this transfer is not reportable to HMRC if at the time of the transfer you were neither UK resident in that UK tax year nor in any of the previous five tax years.
However, this does not mean the money is clear of any restrictions.
Firstly, if you ever become UK tax resident again, your reporting obligations will revive.
Secondly, there are still restrictions on what the money can be used to invest in (this is limited to the type of investments permitted by UK law).
I have written an article about this which contains the references to the legislation see:-
SMSF - main issues for UK migrants.
If you would like further statutory references, by all means PM me.

Dondy

Thank you so much for both of your replies. They were exactly what I was looking for.