QROPS for USA resident update, February 2011.

Feb. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- The HIRE act

Within this seemingly harmless piece of US legislation is hidden the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. This act forces non US based investment vehicles to bring in tax reporting to the IRS. Or the IRS will impose a 30% withholding tax over an investment held by a US national or resident.

For a USA resident looking to transfer their UK pension the implications of this legislation are far reaching. Requiring that the majority of QROPS Trusts to refuse entry to any USA resident. And in the case of an existing QROPS transfer the imposing of a 30% withholding tax on payments from the trust to a USA resident. This does not preclude USA residents from undertaking a QROPS transfer.   It does however mean that your choice of financial adviser must be a specialist in this field.

OIIA Limited a well established provider of advice to USA residents on UK pension transfers to QROPS, has confirmed that it can assist USA residents to transfer their UK pensions to suitably structured QROPS trusts. Having worked closely with QROPS providers to build solutions that meet existing and future USA IRS tax reporting requirements, the company is ideally placed to become the market leader in a virtually untapped market.

A spokesman for the company said. “We would suggest that any US resident who is looking at a QROPS transfer to ensure that their financial adviser is aware of the HIRE act and the tax implications. We know of some IFAs who are continuing to place USA residents in entirely unsuitable jurisdictions. This will inevitably lead to the scheme trustees having to impose the 30% withholding tax.”

Getting the right advice is the key. However the problem is being compounded by a lack of suitably qualified financial advisers in what is clearly a very complicated area. This combined with a lack of care or conscience on the part of some QROPS Trustees, who are accepting transfers from USA residents when clearly they should not.



OIIA can be contact at:        info@pension-transfers-qrops.com  

Or visit their website:     http://www.pension-transfers-qrops.com/index.html