Introducing QROPS
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QROPS pension checklist
When you are buying a QROPS pension, your adviser (qrops advice) )will do all the legwork on your behalf. However, it is worth knowing the basics so that you can ask informed questions and ensure that his advice covers your concerns.
Tax
Transferring your UK pension into a QROPS pension means that it will be free from UK income tax. The next thing to consider then is what tax liabilities it might attract. This does not just mean asking how much you may have to pay, but when you have to pay it.
QROPS pension are widely available in low tax jurisdictions, but you may have reasons for choosing a country like France or Spain to hold your pension pot. Your QROPS adviser for QROPs advice should run through the consequences of this.
What is your pension buying?
The choice of underlying assets in the pension will depend on your appetite for risk, and whether you have any existing investment preferences. Generally speaking, the closer you are to retire age, the lower risk your investments tend to be.
When can you get to it?
This is one of the key questions to ask about planning your retirement income. With the UK government promising to end compulsory annuitisation at 75 the playing field may have levelled in that regard, but QROPS pension may still offer a competitive choice regarding early access to lump sums.
Inheritance
It is worth casting aside any reluctance you have to consider your own demise to make sure that your beneficiaries will not lose out from your QROPS pension decision. As you might expect, there is a range of inheritance tax treatments across the QROPS pension countries, so ask your QROPS adviser for QROPs advice to bear this in mind when recommending a scheme for you.
How much will the QROPS pension cost you?
Finally, whilst no one welcomes paying management or administration fees for their pension scheme, these expenses are much less painful if they are what you expect them to be. Accordingly, make sure that you are aware of any set-up, annual and transfer fees that your QROPS pension administrators may charge.
We take all of these issues into account when we choose the best scheme for you. We make sure that our clients make informed decisions about products we select for them.