Expat Financial Advice a Must When Returning to UK

As it stands, its been nearly a year that expat retirement transfers of pensions have incurred a charge when moving to or between Qualifying Recognised Offshore Pension Schemes (QROPS), with only expats living within the European Union or a select group of 13 other countries immune to this charge.

However, British expats across the world have recently joined forces to question the fairness of the charge and to lobby parliament for its removal.

It’s easy to see why they have taken this course of action – the charge for overseas expat retirement transfers comes in at 25% of the value of the pension fund; plainly a crippling and punitive amount for people who have already worked hard and paid their taxes in order to prudently fund their retirement.

Many expats earn more abroad than they would at home, have lower tax liability and a range of investment options. However, despite these advantages, some fail to adequately account for one essential aspect of wealth management: expat regular savings.

Unfortunately, for those in this situation it can take a catastrophic event such as the loss of a job, ill-health, an accident or an unexpected liability or capital expense to make them realise there is an expat regular savings shaped void in their financial planning.