In Focus News & Insights

Advice on buying overseas property from financial expert Simon Conn:

After the “shocks” of 2016, how will the overseas property market be affected in 2017 and will the most popular areas still be of interest? Although the Trump and Brexit decisions did have an initial effect on clients potentially purchasing an overseas property - where some people have deferred until the markets have settled down in the USA after the Presidential inauguration and Article 50 is finally implemented - others have seen this as a good time to look for opportunities and bargains available in the market.

Under new plans proposed by the Government, and included in Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement, British expatriates with offshore pensions will face a higher income tax rate.

The plans say that those with QROPS (qualifying registered overseas pension schemes) will be subject to the same tax treatment as those with UK pensions, meaning that they will pay 100 per cent instead of their current 90 per cent. There will also be further measures taken to make setting up a QROPS more complex in the future.

A lot of my discussions with clients when I first meet them is about their investment experience in the past.  Many express wariness of investing in funds, having been unfortunate with their previous decisions. This is the problem with choosing a fund based on its past performance. No fund can always be top of the table.

Any person with either a personal or professional interest in pension transfers in Grand Cayman will be interested to learn that the UK's Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has announced details of a new pension transfers qualification that is designed to enhance the knowledge of those providing pension transfers advice.

The new level 4 Certificate in Pension Transfers is comprised of four compulsory units, including a new advanced level 6 unit called "(AF7) Pension transfers", as well as the following three CII level 4 units:

Clients of expat financial services providers are using the nose-diving pound as an opportunity to invest in the UK buy-to-let property market, with lenders reporting an 80% increase in mortgage applications from British expats looking to make secure future financial provision.

It is a curious position: expats benefiting from economic uncertainty in their home country in order to invest in its property market at a time when the pound is approaching ten-year lows against many of its rival currencies. So, how easy is it?

As retirement draws near, many of us begin to think about how we want our hard-earned earthly possessions to be distributed amongst our nearest and dearest. Making a will, of course, is a good starting point, but you also might want to think about the slice of the pie that the taxman will take from our relatives’ inheritance.

A judge at a UK court has ruled that limitations in the law mean divorcing partners cannot make claims for the QROPS pensions of their British expat ex-partners.

This ruling relating to overseas QROPS pensions was reached in the High Court as part of the protracted and embittered divorce settlement of Amit and Ankita Goyal.

The couple divorced during the summer of 2013 and an earlier court hearing in October 2015 ruled that the husband should pay a financial settlement to his wife. However, it was not until the High Court decision in October 2016 that clarity was offered in respect of the husband's £87,000 India-based QROPS pension.

One of the most common questions asked of expat financial services firms is what should clients do with their pensions. Some wish to keep all their money in a UK-based pension, some will look to transfer to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) and others will want to take a tax-free lump sum from their fund. In short, what an individual chooses to do will depend heavily on their personal circumstances together with any advice they receive from their expat financial services professional.