I’m now free of both 5 & 10 year HMRC reporting obligations and am looking into a lateral transfer to another financial institution so I can self direct my investment.

In order to transfer my funds to another company I need to deregister as a QROPS with HMRC.

Any wisdom on how best to do this?

Hi, I transferred a couple of pension accounts from Aviva in the UK over to Canada in 2014. I was told that there were restrictions on what I could do with those funds for five years after transfer. That five years is well in my rear view mirror by now and the funds were transferred elsewhere a few years ago. I never had to deregister anything with HRMC (at least as far as I'm aware!) and no one has complained. Perhaps the process is different for you but, once the five years was up, I pretty much ignored HMRC!

That’s good to know, it maybe a rule change. I’m trying to transfer from Scotiabank (QROPS) to another financial institution. I’ll update here once I’ve spoken to the HMRV.

I assume that you were over the age of 55 (57) when you made that transfer. I believe that, save exceptional circumstances, no funds could be transferred to a non-QROPS fund could occur prior to the age of 55 (57) and that, if there were, you would face being taxed by HMRC.

Edit; When I transferred mine, I believe the age was 55. This link suggests that it has been raised to 57 but this may only apply to those transfers from the UK that occurred after the removal of a transfer to a QROPS was reinstated: Overseas pensions: tell HMRC you’re a qualified recognised overseas pension scheme - GOV.UK

I brought mine over in 2014 (40 years old). Now I’m past the old 10 year and new 5 year reporting rules I want to move it from Scotiabank to another provider (Wealthsimple) to self direct invest. Scotiabank declined the transfer saying that I need to deregister it as a QROPS with HMRC. FYI a lateral transfer from one institution to another is not a “tax event” so there is no withdrawal taxes.

Removing your funds from a QROPS to a non-QROPS is not permitted, prior to the age of 55, without triggering tax consequences, I believe. If you have any legal authority to the contrary, I would be interested to see it.

Awesome, thanks.