ROSIIP GLO: Taxpayers succeed
The ROSIIP GLO concerned the imposition of a 55% tax charges against pension-holders who had transferred their UK pensions into the Singapore ROSIIP Pension Fund. At the time of transfer, ROSIIP had been listed on HMRC’s website as a QROPS – transfers to which attract no charge to tax. The fund was retrospectively withdrawn from HMRC’s list in 2008 so that transfers made prior to its withdrawn were said to be “unauthorised payments” and were assessed to the 55% charges.
The pension holders argued that HMRC could not impose the tax charges against them because they had obtained a legitimate expectation from HMRC that they would not be subject to tax on their transfers. On the fifth day of the hearing, HMRC accepted that they could not maintain their assessments against the claimants and the assessments were withdrawn. The background to the withdrawal of these assessments suggests that HMRC may not be able to impose tax charges against individuals who make transfers into other funds which appeared on the QROPS list and were later removed retrospectively.
If you or your clients receive an assessment or enquiry in circumstances similar to those described above, please contact us.
This article appears in the JHA July 2013 Tax Newsletter, which also features:
- Retrospective Changes to rules on interim payment applications in tax cases
- FII GLO 3rd ECJ reference
- Portfolio Dividend Claims: High Court Trial Concludes
- Exit Taxes
- Belgium notional interest deduction regime contrary to EU law
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The End is Nigh for the Non-Dom Regime
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Increased Investment in Personal Tax Compliance in the UK (Published in Thought Leaders 4 Private Client)
Advances in technology and increased international fiscal co-operation have made global personal tax compliance initiatives pop up in abundance in recent years. To compound the issue, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding economic fallout prompted domestic governments to increase transparency in relation to investments held by wealthy foreign individuals (with a focus on oligarchs).
In the UK, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, public opinion certainly seems to be in favour of increased accountability for high-net-worth individuals (eg, on 9 October 2022, 63% of Britons surveyed thought that “the rich are not paying enough and their taxes should be increased”).1
HMRC is one of the most sophisticated tax collection authorities in the world and the department is making significant investments in technology in the field of compliance work; they are well placed to take advantage of new international efforts to increase tax compliance, particularly considering the already extensive network of 130 bilateral tax treaties in the UK (the largest in the world).2 The UK was also a founding member of the OECD’s Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) forum.
This article discusses the main developments in support of the increased focus on international transparency and personal tax compliance in the UK. There are other international fiscal initiatives, particularly in the field of corporate taxation, but such initiatives are beyond the scope of this article.
It should be noted that a somewhat piecemeal approach, with constant tinkering makes compliance difficult for the taxpayer and is often criticised for lacking the certainty that a stable tax system needs to thrive.
This article was first published with ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client Magazine
