QROPS industry officials expressed relief over today's anticipated announcement by HM Revenue & Customs concerning how they are to handle transfers of pensions into qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes, which some had feared might contain more bad news for their sector.
The announcement, which involved changes that are outlined towards the end of a newsletter that may be viewed here, introduced a new online service for QROP scheme administrators to use in place of paper forms, as well as new versions of the two main forms used to transfer pensions from UK pension fund administrators to the administrators of overseas QROP schemes.
According to the announcement, the newly-revamped forms APSS 262 and APSS 263 should be used from today onwards, though old forms may continue to be until 12 October, providing certain extra information, such as the date that the member left the UK and his or her birth date, is included.
Also unveiled today were plans for a new "QROPS Scheme Manager ID", a "unique number that will be allocated to each QROP scheme manager" as part of the move of QROPS filing online.
HMRC said it will be writing to all QROP scheme managers to tell them their number before the online system is up and working, which it said will be in December.
In the meantime, those completing the new forms APSS 262 and APSS 263 could leave the question referring to this number blank, HMRC said.