Expats and tax: the lowdown on living the high life in Cyprus

CASE STUDY:

Retired
Personal status:
Couple in their early sixties.
Expat status:
Retired to Cyprus five years ago.
Financial status:
UK pensions income about £35,000 per annum. UK investment income £20,000 per annum. Flat in Cyprus now worth £350,000. UK family house worth £500,000. UK investment property worth £500,000 with mortgage of £300,000 and rented out.

This couple will be tax resident in Cyprus and subject to Cyprus tax on their worldwide income. The maximum tax rate in Cyprus is 35pc but there is also a "tax" of up to 20pc as a "Defence Contribution".

The UK pension income would generally be subject to withholding tax in the UK, but the UK and Cyprus have ratified a tax treaty that normally gives the taxing right only to Cyprus. Pension income accumulated from services rendered abroad is taxed at a rate of only 5pc for amounts exceeding €3,420.

Moving the pension to a qualified recognised offshore pension scheme (QROPS) would be advantageous as the special member payment charges that apply to UK-registered schemes would be avoided.

The most punitive charge is the special 55pc death charge imposed on the remaining fund after the member's death. It should also mean that the couple could drawdown a greater level of income from their pensions as the UK's drawdown limits also cease to apply.

Depending on the type, income from investments in the UK might be subject to withholding tax in the UK, but this would generally be credited against tax due on the same income in Cyprus under the tax treaty. Moving the investments offshore should avoid any UK tax. Dividend income is exempt from tax in Cyprus but is still subject to the Defence Contribution at 20pc. Capital gains on qualified securities and funds are also tax-exempt in Cyprus.

The rental income on the investment property would be liable to UK tax but all expenses of maintenance and interest on the loan could be deducted. The couple could elect to be taxed according to the non-resident landlord scheme so the rental income can be received gross. The income after expenses would be subject to UK tax at the individual rates, but the couple would still enjoy their tax-free personal allowance, so the maximum rate would probably be only 20pc. Tax paid in the UK on rental income is allowed as a credit against tax due in Cyprus.

Their main concern should be UK inheritance tax (UK IHT). If they intend to remain in Cyprus for the rest of their lives, they could be domiciled in Cyprus. If so they would not be subject to UK IHT on their worldwide estate. Contrary to popular belief, the fact that they still own UK property would not be a barrier to claiming a non-UK domicile.

Irrespective of domicile, they would still be liable to UK IHT on any UK-situated assets. They each get an allowance in the UK of approximately £325,000, so a total allowance of £650,000. The total equity (value less loans) in their UK properties is £800,000. This would still leave them with a UK IHT liability of 40pc of the balance, being about £70,000. If they were still UK domiciled, IHT would bite on the whole of their estate. This would give them a substantial IHT bill in the UK. The couple should get certainty on their domicile.

There are steps they could take to mitigate IHT. If they are not domiciled in the UK, they could turn their UK investments into non-UK investments by transferring them to offshore companies so their asset was the shares in the non-UK company rather than the UK property itself. The shares would not be subject to UK IHT. The new penal taxes on residential property held by offshore companies apply to properties worth more than £2 million, so won't affect them.

Howard Bilton is chairman of The Sovereign Group and a barrister at law.

Pensions - consider your options

So it’s one month into the New Year. Might I be so bold as to ask how your 2013 resolutions are going? Fear not. Lest you’ve forgotten, this is a finance column – so your weight, consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and whether you’ve yet made any use of that trial gym membership you were given for Christmas, are not my concern. I’m conducting an audit of your financial resolutions.
You know how it goes. Spend less, pay off those credit cards, save more etc. And the resolution that has gained more currency in recent years – organise, or maybe re-organise, your pension arrangements.

Why are pensions taking up so many more column inches these days? After all, you can’t pick up one of those expat freebie newspapers in Gibraltar or the Costas without seeing endless articles and ads for one pension provider or another. I seem to be spending much more of my time these days speaking to individuals and intermediary firms about pensions and I think there are several straightforward reasons for the increasing level of interest.

Put simply, the realisation is dawning (or perhaps it dawned some time ago) that not only is life expectancy increasing, but the population itself is ageing. What I mean of course is that the proportion of older people compared to younger generations is increasing year by year. This is due to the double effect of a reducing birth rate (although there doesn’t seem to be much evidence of this in Gibraltar!) coupled with advances in health care and a better awareness of health issues in general.

There is nothing revolutionary in any of this of course. What has changed in recent years – as always this is just my own personal opinion – is the impact of the financial crisis, which affects everyone in one way or another. Five years on and the global economy shows no sign of bouncing back. One of the consequences is that individuals have to take more responsibility for their financial arrangements to see them through later life after retirement. As we all know, more people are living well into their 80’s, 90’s and beyond, so even retiring at 65 generally means you are making financial preparations for a long time ahead.  And, of course, for anyone wishing to retire earlier the situation becomes even more critical.

When considering pension arrangements, the general advice has always been that the earlier contributions are started the better the final result. But in reality do young people in their 20’s actively consider pensions these days? Please don’t write in if you are doing so, but my belief is that not enough people are being encouraged to provide for their financial future. When I was in my 20s the bank for which I then worked forced me to join their final salary scheme – more of which shortly. But these days, I can understand why “twenty somethings” feel that other things take priority. Paying off student loans, saving for deposits on first homes or even just rental contracts are just a few examples. And then life changing events such as marriage and children come along too.
I remember when I was 25 that my projected retirement age of 60 seemed a very long way away. But of course, as my fellow quinquagenarians will attest, it seems to catch up with you very quickly. So it’s rather disconcerting to read in the press of poor investment performance, less than perfect advice being given (or even worse, no advice at all) and the like. Couple these negatives with the apparent complexity of available options and one can see why the whole issue of pensions can appear to be so off-putting.

So let’s turn to a couple of terms you will see in the press and try to demystify these confusing acronyms. I begin with the most commonly seen – QROPS – which stands for Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme. These can be used by British expatriates and others who have spent time working in the UK and have built up a pension there. QROPS enables them to transfer the value of such pensions into a non-UK scheme. But why would they do this? The reason is that leaving the pension behind in the UK means that it remains subject to UK pensions law. UK income tax may be deducted at source – regardless of where one might now be living; UK investment restrictions continue to apply; and, on death, succession issues cause real concern.

For a more in depth look at these schemes, readers may wish to look back to my article in October last year (all back issues on are online at www.thegibraltarmagazine.com). The legislation that governs QROPS was introduced in 2004 although it came into effect two years later.  Eagle-eyed readers of the financial press may also have seen reference to a similar looking acronym – QNUPS. Again this refers to a pension governed by underlying UK legislation and the acronym itself stands for Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme.

The two types of scheme are similar but each is used for different reasons. A key differentiating factor is that funds that have not benefitted from UK tax relief should be used in a QNUPS. If one has a QROPS, it is always going to be a QNUPS. But a QNUPS is not necessarily going to be a QROPS. Are you still with me? It’s not difficult to see why you should seek advice.

But why should this concern us in Gibraltar? In the case of QROPS, the answer is that these types of arrangements concern individuals with a UK pension who are living abroad (or are able to demonstrate an intention to emigrate), so one can easily understand why the English-speaking press in Spain is awash with pension service providers trying to promote their pension schemes.

But the same rules also apply to anyone who has a UK pension and who has now left the UK: and, of course, there are many Gibraltarians in this position. My advice to anyone who has worked in the UK at some point and therefore has a UK pension, is to consider carefully whether or not a QROPS might be suitable. It may be that the UK pension is relatively modest. If one worked in the UK for just a few years this is likely to be the case. So you should check whether the QROPS’ provider you are speaking to offers a “lite” version of their scheme – typically these are more keenly priced, although there may be restrictions on the investments allowed within the pension and so on.

As always, professional advice should be sought as early as possible because individual circumstances need to be considered. What works for your friend at the golf club may not work for you. For example, I am often asked if final salary pensions can be switched to a QROPS. They can, but one needs to consider very carefully whether this would be a wise move. Such pensions (if you can get them at all these days) are unusually highly-prized because the pension you receive is based on the final salary that you were drawing when you left the company concerned. Index-linked schemes, where future pension payments match inflation, are of course the best of all.

The one thing that is clear with pension planning is that you shouldn’t wait until you retire to start considering your options. It could be that you are living on your pension and other investments for almost as long as you are living on a salary or running your own business. And that goes for your dependents too. It therefore makes sense to pay as much attention to your future needs in financial planning as you do your current ones. So organising, or re-organising, your pension arrangements is one New Year’s resolution that you should stick to. Now off you go the gym!

Alan Montegriffo joins Sovereign Insurance Services

Gibraltar-based Sovereign Insurance Services has marked the beginning of the New Year by expanding its business in Ocean Village. The company has acquired the general insurance book of Eurolinx Limited and as a result, well-known local insurance personality Alan Montegriffo has joined the expanding team.

Commenting on the acquisition, Sovereign Insurance Services Managing Director Geoff Trew said that although organic growth was positive, the Eurolinx general insurance book would allow the business to grow exponentially over the coming year. He added that the company is delighted that Mr Montegriffo is joining the team. Mr Trew pointed out that Neil Entwistle has also recently joined the company, and that he will concentrate on working with the Sovereign Group offices world-wide to generate international insurance business opportunities for their Gibraltar, London and international insurance markets.

Sovereign Insurance Services is a subsidiary of the wider Sovereign Group whose global Head Office is located in Main Street. Now boasting a total staff complement of almost 80 locally, Sovereign has offices in a further 23 locations worldwide.

Group Finance Director Gerry Kelly, himself based in Gibraltar, welcomed the acquisition adding that Sovereign Group remains interested in any further suitable opportunities, both locally and abroad. He commented that two further deals were being considered at present.

Sovereign Insurance Services is a fully licensed insurance broking intermediary and is based at new state of the art premises at Ocean Village’s Promenade. They arrange all types of Insurance cover for both personal and corporate clients worldwide where coverages include such specialist lines as healthcare, construction, corporate liability, contingency and kidnap & ransom. Benefitting from their location at the Ocean Village marina, a full range of marine and aviation based insurance services are also available.