After 5th April this year I have left the UK over five years. Last year I did a QROPS transfer, which went very smoothly and I'm very happy. By the way, Mark Walker of Sterling Advisory is very good.

Ok, I thought , now I can take some of my QROPS RRSP if I want to, because I've been living in Canada more than five full UK tax years. But Oh No, the UK government have decided to switch things up again. And yes, I'm only 47, but because of ill health I would like to enjoy some of my pension benefits, because quite honestly I might not see age 55. But now, with the new rules, it doesn't matter if I've lived in Canada 1 year or 20 years, I can't get to any of my pension funds until I'm 55.

The only good thing to bringing the funds over here is that upon my death my spouse will get all of the pension pot, and the UK can't get any of it. At least my spouse will enjoy my pension, because apparently I wont. Just another example of why I left the UK in the first place, because the government over there is so irritating and cannot bear to reward good honest, hardworking folk.

Interesting

According to Mark Walker, the new rules will only effect you if you are bringing over more than GBP 30k.

I have already done the transfer, and it was in excess of 100K GBP.

That would be an exceedingly small pot.

We brought in a total between us of $700k so pretty much buggered for early retirement

Total of $700k and you're buggered for early retirement?!

Christ, that makes me triply buggered then, wonder if Timmies will employ me when I hit 70?

I meant you can't take it out early, as the above original post suggests

Do you have an HMRC link for that?

Hi Just joined , Im going through this QROPS excercise myself , I have a prudential policy taken out 38yrs ago, only paid into it for 5 years then came to canada 34 years ago could not cash this out before age 65 although I tried on 2 occasions, fortunately for me now Im glad I couldnt because the interest is substantial over the years compounded, now I have reached retirement age actually 68 now Im trying to have the funds transfered to canada via qrops and mainstream banks,tried TD RBC Scotia, all 3 were really interested and excited and supposedly qrops qualified,but when it came game time none could do the job for me,I currently have an appointment with BDO nesbit burns to see what they can suggest, I prefer to deal with a mainstream bank rather than a lesser known company, Im surprised that the so called experts have no concept of this transaction process even though HM government recomends them as being qrops qualified, Im afraid to pull the trigger on this and have sat for a few years contemplating, I certainly dont want a massive tax hit because of some financial wizards incompetence,any help out there on this subject, Ive just joined so Im not sure of the protocol,thanks for reading regards Bill

There are scores of people, myself included, who have successfully transferred pensions over using QROPS. Myself, I used Scotiabank.

The issue is that the branch automatons know little about it. It's administrated by a small team at head quarters.

I think it depends on how many people are doing transfers through that branch. The Scotiabank lady who handled mine knew a lot about it, because she did about one a month.

All my problems came from the UK side.

Anyone living on the west coast , I highly recommend Mark Walker of Sterling Advisory. He doesn't charge a fee, meets up with you where its convenient , and is also a nice guy.

I have just initiated the QROPS process through Scotiabank. I don't bank with Scotiabank but walked into my local branch and spoke with the first available advisor. She had never heard of QROPS but got right on the phone to HQ in Toronto, was immediately emailed some forms and we got to filling out the forms. Two days later we have completed the package of papers, she has certified my ID and its all off to Toronto for some more senior signatures.
Lets hope the UK side are as efficient, they emailed me a very comprehensive transfer package of all the necessary forms so hopefully there should not be too much back and forth.
Fingers crossed.
I'll let you know how it goes!

I also got a nice bunch of flowers too

PS I thought that you couldnt touch it for 5 years once you had bought it over . . .??
but yes it's probably changed again !

This is a post from mjwalker (Sterling Advisory) from August 2013, when someone wanted to access some of their funds:

Under QROPS rules, if you make a withdrawal from a pension that has been transferred from the UK, The RRSP provider in Canada has a duty to report that withdrawal to the HMRC.The reporting requirement for QROPS providers as from April 2012 is now 10 years from the date of the transfer.

If you have not been left the U.K for five full tax years, The HMRC will class this an an unauthorized payment and you will have a member payment charge of up to 55% levied by the HMRC.

As ALL withdrawals have to be reported, just because in Canada you can access RRSP monies without tax liability if you are a first time homebuyer..............The U.K will still view this withdrawal as an unauthorized payment and will levy the appropriate member payment charge.
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