Part 7 - Overseas pensions
197.Paragraph 92 amends section 169(4) of FA 2004 to extend the scope of the existing power to make regulations in connection with information requirements for scheme managers of qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (QROPS). The amendment provides that regulations made under this power may also require the scheme manager of a QROPS or former QROPS to provide information i) to the scheme administrator of a registered pension scheme or ii) to the scheme manager of a QROPS or former QROPS or iii) to a member or former member of a QROPS or former QROPS.
198.Paragraph 93 amends section 251 of FA 2004 to extend the scope of the existing power to make regulations in connection with information requirements for scheme administrators.
199.Paragraph 93(2) provides that regulations made under this power may also require the scheme administrator to provide information to the scheme manager of a QROPS. It also provides that the regulations may require members of relevant non-UK schemes to provide information to scheme administrators of registered pension schemes or scheme managers of relevant non-UK pension schemes.
200.Paragraph 93(3) amends section 251(6) and provides that the definition of relevant non-UK scheme in section 251 is the same as in paragraph 1 of Schedule 34 to FA 2004 (Schedule 34).
201.Paragraph 94 inserts new sub-paragraph (2A) into paragraph 5 of Schedule 33 to FA 2004 (Schedule 33) which defines a qualifying overseas pension scheme (QOPS).
202.New paragraph 5(2A) of Schedule 33 confirms that, for the purposes of the requirement in paragraph 5(1)(c) of Schedule 33 that a scheme manager must provide an undertaking to HMRC to comply with any prescribed benefit crystallisation information requirements, “benefit crystallisation information requirements” includes prescribed information requirements relating to when an individual first flexibly accesses their pension rights.
203.Paragraph 95 amends Schedule 34 which provides for certain tax charges to apply to savings in non-UK pension schemes where those savings have benefited from UK tax relief.
204.Paragraph 95(2) amends paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 34 to provide that the tax charges that apply in connection with the payment of an UFPLS can also apply to payments from a relevant non-UK scheme as if they were payments from a registered pension scheme.
205.Paragraph 95(3) amends paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 34 to provide that the member payment provisions also include the provisions of section 636A of ITEPA 2003 relating to an UFPLS. This is shown separately because section 636A(1A) to (1C) of ITEPA 2003 is not within the provisions of Part 4 of FA 2004 as are the other member payment charges.
206.Paragraph 95(4) inserts new paragraph 5A into Schedule 34. This provides that a payment made from a relevant non-UK scheme will be taxed as a relevant withdrawal under section 576A ITEPA 2003 where tax is due under the member payment charges in Schedule 34 but the UK cannot immediately collect the tax under the terms of a double taxation agreement.
207.Paragraph 95(5) amends paragraph 6 of Schedule 34 as a consequence of the new paragraph 5A, to provide that where overseas tax has been paid in respect of the relevant withdrawal, then any UK tax liability will be reduced by the amount of overseas tax paid.
208.Paragraph 95(6) amends paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 34 to extend the scope of the existing regulation-making power in connection with these member payment provisions to provide that the regulations can include transitional provisions.
209.Paragraph 95(7) inserts new paragraphs 9ZA and 9ZB into Schedule 34.
210.New paragraph 9ZA provides that the lower money purchase annual allowance will also potentially apply where an individual is or has been a currently-relieved member of a currently-relieved non-UK pension scheme and flexibly accesses pension rights under that non-UK pension scheme.
211.New paragraph 9ZB provides that any pension scheme that is or has been a QROPS is treated as a registered pension scheme for the purposes of whether the money purchase annual allowance rules are triggered in respect of individuals with UK tax relieved savings in that QROPS. This ensures that where the equivalent of an UFPLS is paid, or payments are taken from the equivalent of a flexi-access drawdown fund from a QROPS, this counts as a trigger for when the individual flexibly accesses their pension rights. This means that the money purchase annual allowance potentially applies from that date if the individual continues to contribute to a registered scheme or currently-relieved scheme.
212.Paragraph 95(8) inserts new sub-paragraph (3) into paragraph 11 of Schedule 34 to provide that where an individual first flexibly accesses their pension during a tax year, when calculating the amount of the pension input under a money purchase arrangement in a non-UK scheme for the periods before and after that first access, the same appropriate fraction for the tax year applies to both calculations.
213.Paragraph 95(9) amends paragraphs 12(2) and 19(2) of Schedule 34 to extend the scope of the existing regulation making powers in connection with the application of the annual allowance and lifetime allowance charges to members of non-UK schemes to provide that the regulations can include transitional provisions.
214.Paragraph 96 amends the Pension Schemes (Application of UK Provisions to Relevant Non-UK Schemes) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/207).
215.Paragraph 96(2) amends regulation 5 of SI 2006/207 to clarify that it only applies to Part 3 of SI 2006/207. This is so that regulation 5, which modifies FA 2004 as it applies to relevant non-UK schemes, will not apply to the new Part 4 of these Regulations (which relates to section 636A of ITEPA) inserted by paragraph 96(15).
216.Paragraph 96(3) to (14) amend regulation 15 of SI 2006/207 which modifies Schedule 29 (Authorised Lump Sums) as it applies to relevant non-UK schemes. Paragraphs 96(4) to (9) and (11) to (14) provide that when working out whether a member has lifetime allowance available after a relevant BCE has occurred, the value of any UFPLS paid since the relevant BCE is to be taken into account for various prescribed purposes. Paragraph 96(10) inserts new paragraph (4A) into regulation 15 of SI 2006/207 which amends paragraph 4A of Schedule 29 to disregard the value of the relevant BCE when calculating the member’s available lifetime allowance under regulation 15. Relevant BCE has its existing meaning of BCE 8 (a transfer to a QROPS) and a BCE occurring by virtue of paragraph 15 of Schedule 34.
217.Paragraph 96(15) inserts new Part 4 and regulation 18 into SI 2006/207.
218.New regulation 18 modifies section 636A of ITEPA 2003 to provide similar modifications to those amended by paragraph 96(4) to (14). Regulation 18 provides that when a relevant non-UK scheme pays an UFPLS after a relevant BCE has occurred, when working out how much lifetime allowance the member has available for the purposes of new section 636A(1B) as inserted by paragraph 62 of Schedule 1, the value of any prior relevant BCE must be ignored, the referable portion of any earlier PCLS or any earlier UFPLSs paid since the relevant BCE is deducted even if the lump sum concerned has been paid since the member reached the age of 75, and the referable portion which would have crystallised by virtue of the member becoming entitled to a pension since the relevant BCE is deducted, even if the member had reached the age of 75 before becoming so entitled. The referable portion is the amount that relates to the funds that have received UK tax relief.
219.Paragraph 97 amends the Registered Pension Schemes and Overseas Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2259), and the Pension Schemes (Information Requirements for Qualifying Overseas Pension Schemes, Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes and Corresponding Relief) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/208). The amendments change the start date from which scheme managers are required to re-notify their QROPS status to delay the implementation by 12 months. This is because before 6 April 2015 schemes would have to re-notify on the basis of the information in place at that time. As scheme managers can re-notify HMRC up to six months before they are due to do so, they could provide the information changed as a result of the amendments in this Act within 30 days of 6 April 2015. It would provide no benefit for schemes to notify HMRC twice in a short space of time.
