What does QROPS mean?

What is a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme? Why are they of interest to UK Pension holders, particularly those living overseas?

QROPS are a fascinating piece of legislation and probably the biggest single piece of jargon that’s come out of pension legislation in recent years.

The acronym stands for qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes. You may have heard of EU Directives, and the particular one that freedom of movement of individuals within the European Union, also provides for some freedom of movement of monies and our savings.

It’s a mechanism that the UK's Revenue and Customs department have said can be used to take your pension with you when you move to to a foreign jurisdiction. They work generally like most pension transfers. Some people over time will have moved their pension scheme from one pension provider to another. Now that may be with work, it may be because of charges. A very good example perhaps at the minute is transferring from a personal pension to a self invested personal pension so you get more flexibility and more choice in terms of how they work.

With QROPS, the transfer value of your pension scheme can be sent to a qualifying (there's the "Q") scheme that the HRMC has registered (the "R") in a variety of jurisdictions around the world (the "O" in QROPS). The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and two examples of jurisdictions currently available.

i don'n know,sorry