Pensions Made Easy #7 – Can a QNUPS be useful for people not resident in the UK?

By April 13, 2021News

An article by Roger Berry, Managing Director of Concept Group Limited.

A Guernsey QNUPS may be useful for anyone looking to provide funds for their retirement. The gross roll-up of investments in a Guernsey QNUPS and the payment of benefit gross means from a Guernsey perspective the schemes are tax neutral. No tax relief is given on contributions into the scheme.

Whilst a QNUPS is useful for UK residents, particularly those who have depleted or exhausted their lifetime allowance for contributions into a UK registered pension scheme (currently £1.055 million in UK tax year 2019/20) to create efficient pension savings and on death.  There is also planning opportunities for non-UK residents that are UK Domiciled.

Domicile is your permanent home, usually assigned at birth, it does not change necessarily if you move away. Breaking UK Domicile is difficult and even apparently tenuous links to the UK can maintain your UK Domicile indefinitely. You can be “deemed” Domicile if you have spent extended periods in the UK – typically 17 of 20 tax years.

Any person who has a UK Domicile, which on birth or subsequentially obtained is hard to remove, may have their entire world wide assets exposed to UK IHT at 40% on death, not just UK situated assets.

Using a Guernsey QNUPS to provide funds on retirement has the benefit of being based in a highly respected and safe jurisdiction with high levels of regulation and an Ombudsman to turn to If anything goes wrong.

Any funds remaining on death can be passed to loved ones with the potential benefit of being outside UK IHT.

This can be a complex area on which professional advice should be taken. Nothing in the above statement should be construed as tax or other advice or be relied upon.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

IMPORTANT

Concept or Concept Group means Concept Group Limited, Concept Trustees Limited and any other group or associated companies. Concept does not provide financial nor tax advice and nothing in this document should be construed as such, nor shall they be held responsible for any liability or loss arising directly or indirectly from any reliance placed upon the content of this post.

The information in this document is based on our understanding of current laws and practices, both of which are subject to change. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information is correct, Concept cannot accept responsibility for its interpretation, or any future changes to law and practices in any relevant jurisdiction, some of which may have retrospective effect.

Concept Group are licensed under the Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Business and Company Directors etc (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2000 and are regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

Copyright © 2019 Concept Group Limited

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