Has anyone transferred his/her pension to Malta?

A brief history of Malta and financial services history. Population 45,000. Geographically very close to Sicily. Some people of pension age have trouble sleeping......this may not help. Why the EU Is Furious With Malta - Bloomberg
www.bloomberg.com

Why the EU Is Furious With Malta

Malta has become a financial-services hub plagued by allegations of corruption and money laundering and the rest of the EU is furious.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
 
jasdpace@gmail. said:
I'd first of all like to thank Gordon for all the info.

For my sins, I was on the Pension Board site yesterday - they have a guidance note on overseas transfers. As I went through this, I realised that I don't know some very, very basic stuff, as follows.

1. What type of pension plans is it possible to transfer to another European country - as in retirement annuity, PRB, PRSA, occupational schemes?

2. What type of pension plan must the receiving scheme be - IORPS, QROPS, etc?
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A couple of points:

PRSA transfers are subject to income tax.
PRBs can't transfer to Malta.
OPS is the scheme to transfer from.
The receiving scheme just has to provide relevant benefits etc. if it is to an IORPS no prior revenue approval is needed.
QROPS is mainly used for the UK.
Revenue interested in bone fide nature of transactions. a declaration has to be completed with them too.

Might be easier if you provide some background..
 
Oisin19 said:
Revenue interested in bone fide nature of transactions. a declaration has to be completed with them too.
Click to expand...

Would this not mean that unless you're actually moving to Malta then you cannot legitimately transfer your pension fund there? Or am I misunderstanding the meaning of bona fide in this context? (I learnt Latin in school but that's so long ago I think Julius Ceasar was speaking it as a first language at the time.)
 
the Canada life case established that you don't have to be living or working in Malta. Most people feel you should be leaving Ireland though.

Revenue guidance
Only bona fide transfers are acceptable. The use of certain transfer arrangements relating to occupational schemes, to circumvent Revenue rules on the tax treatment of retirement benefits (for example, transfer payments to the UK and back again to Ireland) are not permissible. When you get it into it most people want to get around revenue pension rules.

What is interesting though, is that a lot of these transfers are to IORPS schemes which are occupational schemes in Malta. Bit unusual becoming a member of an OPS in a country you aren't living or employed in?
 
Why I don't offer transfers to Malta

Offering a transfer to Malta would involve a lot of research so that I feel comfortable in offering it to clients (including making sure that my PI covers it). It would also mean higher fees for clients for me to do it for them. It's not something that there is a high demand either. So as someone who runs their own business, I just don't see the return in offering this product given the work involved and the potential returns from it. I have enough work doing what I have expertise on already.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Oisin19 said:
A couple of points:

PRSA transfers are subject to income tax.
PRBs can't transfer to Malta.
OPS is the scheme to transfer from.
The receiving scheme just has to provide relevant benefits etc. if it is to an IORPS no prior revenue approval is needed.
QROPS is mainly used for the UK.
Revenue interested in bone fide nature of transactions. a declaration has to be completed with them too.

Might be easier if you provide some background..
Click to expand...

Thanks Oisin,

I've been doing a bit of digging on this. I'm not disagreeing with anything that you say here but a number of questions strike me, as follows:

1. The pension involved in the famous Canada Life case was a PRSA. So, was the taxation rule on transfers out of PRSAs introduced pre or post this case? What tax rate applies?

2. In order to transfer from an OPS, don't the trustees need the agreement of the majority of the members - meaning that this is highly, highly unlikely to be received in medium to large occupational schemes?

3. Doesn't SI 128 2021 mean that even transfers from OPSs to IORPs do require prior approval from the Pensions Authority?

4. As you say, how can an Irish lad join an "IORP" in Malta?


Personally, at this stage in my investigations, it seems like there are very (too?) many hurdles/walls in transferring to Malta even before getting into delicacies like domicile, good fides, etc. I may well be missing something!
 
Oisin19 said:
The receiving scheme just has to provide relevant benefits etc. if it is to an IORPS no prior revenue approval is needed.
Click to expand...

One additional point about this. As it seems that transfers can only, effectively, come from OPSs (and small ones at that), the receiving scheme must be an IORP........there is no "if" (per the Pensions Authority)
 
1. full income tax rates. I am not sure it always applied but by the way the tax rules are written id imagine so. Its written that all payments from a PRSA are taxable unless you can get an exemption...
2. Once you have a preserved benefit you have a statutory right to transfer from the scheme. I think you are reading about cross border schemes?
3. IORPS II brought in a change in this area. I believe you now have to inform the PA as well. I think you are reading about cross border schemes?
4. Doesn't really make sense to me. Thats why a lot of people go the non IORPS route.
5. the receiving scheme doesn't have to be an IORPS. Sure you could transfer your pension outside of Europe too.

As I said earlier if you provide some background we might be able to provide some guidance. Going into the level of detail on transfer regulations etc doesn't really help your situation. Its clear that you can transfer overseas. What is unclear is why you would do it or how it fits your financial goals etc
 
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