The UK tax authority regularly updates its Rops list, however, the changes announced by chancellor Philip Hammond in the Spring Budget prompted two full suspensions of the list, the latest of which has not been lifted.
The first suspension happened as planned, with nine countries and a third of the Rop schemes removed from the updated list published on HMRC’s website on 18 April.
However, the second suspension on 2 June has not gone according to plan and a new list was not uploaded to the taxman’s website on 5 June, as HMRC expressly had stated it would be.
Unusual
Speaking to International Adviser, David White, partner at The Qrops Bureau, said that “it is certainly very unusual from HMRC to state categorically that the list will be published on a certain date, then not meet that date”.
White suspects that the “delay is due to the review of the list taking longer than expected or possibly other proprieties due to the forthcoming election”.
“In the interim, the absence of the list will be causing delays to customers transfers, as the UK ceding scheme is obliged to check the list before permitting a transfer. In view of this, I don’t envisage the delay being more than a day or so,” he said.
Major undertaking
John Batty, technical sales manager at Boal & Co, agrees with White. He told IA: “While it is annoying that the list is not showing, and this may delay transfers a little, it is a major undertaking and perhaps HMRC were being a little optimistic in terms of how long this would take.
“For clients, they may find that trustees are not sending payments until the list is back up, and perhaps advisers may need to wait a few days to ensure the Qrops they are recommending is still there.
“Long term, I don’t see an issue,” Batty said.
HMRC’s website has not been updated to reflect the delay and still states that the Rops list will return on 5 June.
A spokesman for the UK taxman confirmed to IA that the list “will be published as soon as possible”.
Compliance
The lack of list is “a clear sign that HMRC are taking a zero-tolerance policy against non-compliant Qrops,” Geraint Davies, managing director of Montfort International to IA. “There are major issues at this moment in time with compliance.”
He explained that the original concept behind Qrops was that it was supposed to be a solution and not a product, “but it has become a product and there is the problem”.
“With the Serious Fraud Office investigating overseas advisers and the Section 166 orders, you can see the word ‘compliance’ stamped all over this,” Davies said.
