Thanks for all that. Fred has explained how the pension is classified for taxation purposes.

What I meant by "depends what you do with it" was exactly as I stated. If you invest it again in a Spanish Bond, then the tax situation is as stated - or at least, that's what hacienda tell me!

With regard to:

If on the other hand you just banked the money in UK and said nothing but are now drip feeding it over to Spain in modest amounts then it should all go down on your tax return and you would pay tax, or not, depending on your overall income and circumstances. Unless a gestor suspects money is from dubious or illegal source he has no real reason to care where it has come from.

That's what I do, I make sure that I stay within (reasonable) tax limits (ie. don't bring too much over in one go). I then declare any interest earned. (by-the-way, the business was sold before moving to Spain)


Regarding the 15k versus 30k - I think someone needs to tell Santander that they are doing it wrong. However, if they are happy, then why should I worry?

I found this site via google. I too have been looking at QROPS and whether it is sensible to go through New Zealand and get the cash out.

Having spoken to a number of advisers, I have decided not to transfer it to New Zealand. The rules state that after 5 years of being non resident that there is no need for the individual or the QROPS firm to inform the UK Inland Revenue. However, one adviser pointed out that there is a double taxation agreement with New Zealand and the UK Inland Revenue can ask the taxman in NZ for this information anytime he wants to. Not sure if this would happen or, if it did, what the UK taxman would do with this info. But it gave me pause for thought. Even more so as I have now read that the UK coalition are getting more staff to go after tax avoidance schemes.

The NZ rules seem clear to me, but I am afraid that the UK taxman has within his arsenal the possibilty of changing the rules retrospectively. One adviser told me that such a possibility was "absolutely proposterous" ( He is a highly qualified adviser). I put this suggestion to another adviser. His advice was , and this clinched it for me, simple.

He told me to write to the adviser and ask that he provides me with a personal guarantee ( via a lawyer's contract) that at no time would I be subject to a 55% tax on my pension if I cashed it in through New Zealand and that if was ever asked to pay tax on this transfer that he/his firm would pay this. I sent this email a week ago... Still waiting for a reply!

Basically, I want to speak a pension specialist that is properly qualified ( and that I can check this out somehow) and has all the necessary professional insurances and is regulated. There are not many outside the UK, so be careful folks!

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

a well thought out post that will be of more interest than some.
funny how none of these people want to send out a copy of their registration certificate or confirm their fine words in writing. but there are always people who will blindly follow such people because they talk as if they are knowledgeable.
Cavea Emptor

At least they are regulated by somone.... And I suspect that the particular IFA that I dealt with would rather not lose his individual FSA registration than tell a bunch of porkies.

If you use a financial advisor in Spain they should be registered with the spanish authorities UK regulations do not apply to buiness they do in another country.

Of course that would assume that you had faith in the Spanish regulatory body to do it's job.

Even in the UK the FSA gets it wrong - Equitable Life being a good example.

I have no reason to recommend Blevins Franks but I would have some faith in a respected international company of that size taking its responsibilities seriously.

Some little one man band who claims to know all about QROPS with no certification whatsoever should be avoided like the plague.

As Domino said, Caveat Emptor.

thank you for that Fred

don't think anyone should take Equitable as a good example of anything - they sold on the basis of total win, when a number of years later their silent beancounters pointed out to them the true amount they had let themselves in for they tried to renage. They would have been better to just have pulled the shutters down and gone bust, but again stupid male pride wouldnt let them do that so they closed to new business and tried to pay out at below the contractual sums. This was then compounded by prevarication by government because of (for that time) the enormity of it all, but now eclipsed by much much larger sums.

I think it was a Prudential advert said
"Get the protection of the (Prudential) around you" with pictures of a castle..

Oh and if it is a UK pension then HMRC will take first bite irrespective of where you are living.
rgds

Not true. My UK personal pension is paid free of UK tax under the double taxation treaty.

What's more, as it is an annuity, 76% of it is free of Spanish income tax.

My UK state pension is also not taxed in the UK.

It wasnt your pension I was talking about Fred, its those who take their QROPS and cash it in
rgds

I think some regulators are more on the ball than others. I suppose a regulated adviser is more likely to have professional insurance cover. I am guessing this as I would suppose that an insurer would not provide this type of cover to an unregulated adviser. But people need to check this.

Also, in the event of a problem, it is not guaranteed that a regulated adviser would be helpful in resolving the problem. However, the clients can report him and at least trigger an investigation that could lead to him losing his permission to provide advice. I would have therefore thought that, whilst this is not going to be the situation in all cases, most advisers that are regulated would try to stay within the rules.

The more I look in QROPS , the more I am becoming critical of the Inland Revenue's rules. It is clear that different firms are interpreting them differently and all seem to be able to back up their arguments with facts. Some clarity from the UK taxman would be helpful.

So do what I did and talk to them - in writing if necessary!

Which is clearly a sensible option!

Which leads me to wonder what value some of these advisers give, if the only way to get the answer is to deal with the matter personally.

I had some excellent Inheritance Tax advice from one firm ( as this was confirmed to me by my lawyer), so I suppose that one just needs to be careful when engaging with an adviser to ensure that they know what they are doing.

I am going to sit on the fence on the QROPS issue for a while.

You missed my point here.

Spanish regulators... don't make me laugh............

I am afraid that I have a certain amount of sympathy with this view.

Are the non UK regulators really that bothered about the quality of advice given to a group of expats by another group of expats? I suspect that they have other issues, closer to home, that are more important to them.