The UK tax authority temporarily suspended the Rops list on 2 June with the expectation that it would be updated on 5 June.
The Revenue provided no reason for missing that deadline but advised that the list would be up “as soon as possible”.
An earlier suspension in April, which saw nine countries dropped and a third of schemes culled, was concluded as planned, with HMRC meeting its self-imposed deadline.
Compliant schemes
Scheme operators were required to notify HMRC that their Rops were compliant with the changes announced by chancellor Philip Hammond during the Spring Budget.
He imposed a 25% charge on pension transfers outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) unless the pension pot was being transferred to the country in which the person would reside.
A caveat was added whereby the 25% charge could be levied retrospectively if the person moved out of their non-EEA country within five years of making the transfer.
Moving between EEA countries would not incur this charge.
Latest changes
Australian schemes rebounded and the country remains the biggest single destination with 413 Rops, adding the most during the latest revision of the list.
The country saw a sharp decrease in the April suspension, dropping to 353 schemes from 442.
When HMRC scrapped thousands of Rops from its list in 2015, Australia fared worst tumbling from around 1,600 schemes to one. The main point of contention for Australian schemes was the ability for people to access their funds before the age of 55 in cases of serious ill health.
The Isle of Man is still the second biggest Rops destination with 231 schemes, down from 241 on the previous list.
Guernsey and Jersey continued their declines in terms of scheme numbers. Guernsey now has nearly half as many schemes as it did before the list was suspended. There are currently 27 Qrops on the list, down from 52. However, the Channel Island lost around 100 schemes when the list was suspended in April.
Similarly, Jersey now has 29 schemes, down from 48 in April and 84 before Hammond announced the changes to Qrops.
Gibraltar lost 14 schemes, while Ireland added four and Malta gained one.
None of the countries that were removed in the last suspension returned to the list, meaning that there are still no Rops in the Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Jamaica, Kosovo, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Sweden or Turkey.
The United States was the only country added to the list when it notified HMRC of one scheme that met its requirements. This scheme was removed in the updated version, meaning that there are also no Rops in America.
After all Canadian schemes were removed from the list in November 2016, the country did not notify HMRC of any new Rops.
