Have you ever been tempted to invest in Jersey? The Crown Dependency appears to offer the best of both worlds – the protection of the United Kingdom without its taxman hovering like a malevolent spectre over its economy.
This makes the Channel Island politically stable, but with the independence to set its own budget and (lack of) taxes.
The Jersey investment community is mature and well regulated, and the island is mostly English speaking, although other languages may be spoken in international investment houses.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But unless you live in Jersey, you would not yet be able to transfer your UK pension into a QROPS pension there.
Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes were set up in 2006 by the previous UK government. They allow members of UK pensions schemes to transfer their pension assets to foreign pensions, without paying any UK income tax. There are over a thousand schemes to choose from in a variety of countries.
However, at the moment Jersey QROPS pension are only open to Jersey residents. There are 125 QROPS that are currently open. With a population of just 91,000, this seems like a high take up.
The number of Jersey QROPS may be set to grow significantly if the market is opened up to non-residents, as reports from the region have suggested may be on the cards. The professional services firms are reported to be working closely with law makers on forthcoming changes to the country’s pension regulations to allow Jersey QROPS to be open to non-residents.
What will Guernsey make of the rule change? After all, as Jersey’s nearest neighbour (both geographically and politically), Guernsey offers a similar set up to what may be available from non-resident Jersey QROPS.
No doubt the new entrant into the non-resident QROPS market may shake things up among the offshore pensions community.
If you want any further information about the options open to you, contact QROPS.net for an appraisal of your circumstances. As whole of market advisers they can give you information and recommendations about schemes from all over the world.