Claim Tax Relief in UK - Contribute into QOPS - Exide Life Golden Years Retirement Plan, India

Are you an India based UK tax resident like NRI, PIO, OCI ?

Do you want a tax benefits in UK for your pension contributions made every year & at the same are you quite worried about UK regulations on your pension Corpus accumulated, like UK may not allow transferring your UK pensions to your retiring country(for example India) like it did with NHS pensions in April 2015 ?

For your information, till 5th April 2015, those India based UK residents like doctors who have accumulated pension corpus with NHS were allowed to get their NHS pensions transferred to a QROPS in their retiring country. But, post 5th April 2015, UK stopped allowing NHS pensions transfer to a DC scheme overseas. This unexpected regulation from HMRC left many India based UK professionals disappointed who were aspiring to get their UK pensions transferred to QROPS in India on returning from UK.

Now UK based Indian professionals can directly contribute to a QOPS scheme in India while working in UK itself & at the same time, they can avail tax benefits in UK for the pension contributions made in India, thus not worrying about UK’s regulations on their pension corpus accumulated here.

We would like to provide India based UK residents with more details on this very specific opportunity for professionals like Doctors, Engineers etc. , to do your Pension contributions in a Qualified Overseas Pension Scheme ( QOPS ) and claim tax relief in UK.

In India, the pension scheme “Exide Life Golden Years Retirement Plan” is recognised by the HM Revenue & Customs as Overseas Pension Scheme ( QOPS ).

This scheme meets all the prescribed HMRC conditions to be a QOPS and therefore you can now make your pension contributions into “Exide Life Golden Years Retirement Plan” and claim the tax relief in UK.

It is important to be noted that QOPS is different from QROPS.

QOPS stands for ‘ Qualified Overseas Pension Scheme. It is used to make contributions from UK to a QOPS scheme in India & get tax relief in UK.

Whereas, QROPS stands for Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme. QROPS is used to get your UK pensions transferred to a QROPS, for example in India.

Please look up on https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension for more details

Your private pension contributions are tax-free up to certain limits. This applies to most private pension schemes, like:

· workplace pensions

· personal and stakeholder pensions

· overseas pension schemes that qualify for UK tax relief – known as ‘qualifying overseas pension scheme’ QOPS

Limits to your tax-free contributions

· Your pension contributions are tax-free up to your Annual Allowance which is currently £40,000 a year

Carrying over unused allowance from previous years

· Carry over unused allowance from the earliest tax year first

· If you use all of your annual allowance for the current tax year (6 April to 5 April) you can carry over any allowance you did

not use from the previous 3 tax years.

Contributing into Exide Life Golden Years Retirement plan has many obvious advantages

· The amounts contributed by you gets invested in a Capital Guaranteed Fund

· Earn far better returns in emerging markets (India) than the developed markets

· Expected compounded net returns on invested funds of more than 7.5% per annum for the tenure of Policy

· Option to take pension income in Rupees or in a currency of your choice

· Option to choose retirement age as less as 55 years age

· Withdraw Tax-Free lump sum of up to 33% of accumulated funds any time after attaining age 55

· Take a guaranteed Pension for Life on the remaining corpus from Age 55 onwards.

· Benefit from higher interest rates in India to avail the guaranteed Pension rates of up to 7.5%

· Upon death, the entire corpus is paid to your beneficiaries as 100% tax free, while in UK, after annuitant death, beneficiaries might face huge Inheritance Tax (IHT) liability.

Attractive Returns: Proven track record of 9.66% average bonus over last 6 years in the Similar Pension Fund

Capital Guarantee: Guaranteed fund protection on the accumulated fund for a peaceful retired life

Guarantee: Minimum 5% Guaranteed rate of returns for the first 5 Policy Years

Save more: Can pay unlimited additional amounts as top ups, during the tenure of the policy which is over and above the premium

Flexibility: Can prepone or postpone your retirement age subject to age 55, flexible premium payment terms

We would be grateful if you could take some time to get in touch with us in case you have any further query.

Mr Ravi Kumar. Financial Consultant (Code: 60272381), Exide Life Insurance Co Ltd. Branch- B 21, # 28, 6th floor, Centenary building, M.G Road, Bangalore-560 001.

Cell:     +919844519872
Email:  ravi.sampige@gmail.com

              qropstoindia@gmail.com

“Exide Life Wealth Elite” - A Unit linked Insurance Plan that recognizes the importance of your life goals and helps you fulfil them.

I  would like to take this opportunity to give a brief about Exide Life Insurance...

Exide Life Insurance Company Limited, (Formerly known as ING Vysya Life Insurance Co. Ltd) is a 16 Year old established and profitable life insurance company, head quartered in Bengaluru. The company is 100% owned by Exide Industries Limited. The company serves over 15 lakh customers and manages assets of over INR 11000 Crores. During the financial year 2016-17, the company achieved Total Premium Income of over INR 2,400 crores and delivered INR 112 crores in Profits (PBT). 

To speak about this unique product “Exide Life Wealth Elite” is a market linked insurance plan designed for a special exclusive High Networth Individual customers.

Benefits which this plan offers

·         Choice of 7 fund options including the new Exide Life Mid Cap Fund

·         Comprehensive Life Cover of up to 20 times the Annualized premium.

·         Automatic Asset Rebalancing Strategy - this strategy reduces your equity proportion as your policy nears maturity to ensure that any downside in equity market later in the policy term has minimal impact on your maturity amount.

·         Partial Withdrawal Benefit - this policy allows unlimited number of partial withdrawals from your fund at any point of time after completion of 5 Policy Years for any interim financial goals or emergencies.

·         Option to surrender the policy any time after completion of 5 years.

·         Tax benefits on all withdrawals/ surrenders/ maturity/ claims u/s sec 10.10.D would be 100% tax free.

·         Unlimited free switches are allowed during the policy term between the choice of 7 fund options

·         No Premium Allocation charges in first year for premiums of above 5 Lacs

·         SYSTEMATIC TYRANSFER PLAN

Out of the above mentioned policy features, following two are the most unique features that works in favor of the investor.

1)      Systematic Transfer Plan

2)      Policy Costs/Charges

1)  Systematic Transfer Plan : One may be aware of ‘Systematic Investment Plan’(SIP) concept  in Mutual Funds investment. SIP concept is so much popular because of its very nature of Systematic investments. The purpose of choosing SIP mode instead of One time investment option, is to average out units over the period of time. That means, it is not good practice to push the money at one shot into equities since equity market is so fluctuating & market may fall very next day of investment made resulting even loss of capital invested too. So among MFs, SIP mode is recommended. So that instead of investing at one shot, the same will be splited among number of months & invested the fixed amount monthly on regular basis systematically irrespective of equity market fluctuations. So that our investment meets almost all market trends since investment is regular, resulting an investor ends up buying more number of units when market is down & at the same time more value is reflected for the allotted units when market is up , working in favor of investor in all the market conditions. These further results in accumulating more number of units at the end of the year comparatively to one time investment done by others.  This is called ‘Units Average Costing’. The equity market witnessed bullish(rise) only over the period of time irrespective any amount of fluctuations in the past.

There is one more mode of investment called “ Systematic Transfer Plan”(STP) which is unique & works better than ‘Systematic Investmetn Plan’(SIP).  We can find this STP mode in “Exide Life Wealth Elite” . In STP mode an investor can expect more ‘Units Average Costing’ than SIP mode & can expect more returns & safety of capital invested than SIP mode of investment.

STP strategy ensures equity exposure in a more systematic manner. Under this strategy the allocated premium is invested in ‘Exide Life Preserver Fund’ which is a Debt/liquid orientated fund starting immediately & there after every month, pre-defined proportion of units is transferred from the ‘Exide Life Preserver Fund’ into equity oriented scheme like  ‘Exide Life Prime Equity Fund/Exide Life Mid Cap Fund’ etc. You should understand that, Debt oriented funds like, Preserver Fund are not risky in nature for the capital parked in it. Instead, the debt/liquid oriented funds are delivering average returns of above 8 to 8.5%  YoY.

So, under STP mode,  firstly the investors money is parked in the safer fund like ‘Exide Preserver Fund’ which also earns average returns of above 8 to 8.5% . By doing this it is ensured that there is no market risks, even if equity market falls soon after investing the money with Exide scheme. Later, a , pre-defined proportion of units is transferred from the ‘Exide Life Preserver Fund’ into equity oriented scheme like  ‘Exide Life Prime Equity Fund/Exide Life Mid Cap Fund’ etc in a systematic manner. This second step ensures, allotment of more number of equity units comparatively to both One shot investment & SIP mode too via ‘Units Average Costing’. Because, Investment of fixed amount  is made into equities in a systematic manner for a long term meeting all most all market fluctuations. This ensures allotments of more units when market is down & reflection of more value when market is up finally leading to more ‘Units Average Costing’ under STP mode than SIP mode. Because, under this strategy investor will earn from both Debt/liquid(preserver fund) & Equity( Exide Life Prime Equity Fund/Exide Life Mid Cap Fund’ etc) schemes.

2)      Policy Costs/Charges:  ‘Exide Life Wealth Elite’ Scheme works good in terms of costs for those who plans to invest Rs 5 lacs annually .  There is no premium allocation charge in the first year for the customer who invest Rs 5 lacs. The charges are reasonable with Exide Life Wealth Elite compared to other life Insurance products available in the market. Interestingly, the charges look lesser than even Mutual Fund schemes available in the market. Following are the charges of Exide Life Wealth Elite:

a)      Premium Alocation Charge – 0% in the year One  &  1% from 2^nd year on words on the premium that you pay every year. (please note that this premium allocation charge from 2^nd year onwards is on the premium you pay every year & interestingly not on the total Fund value of that policy year. It makes lot of difference if any charge is imposed on total fund value).

b)      Policy Admin Charge : The maximum policy admin charge is capped at Rs 500 per month(maxium charge annually is Rs 6000). This charged will not be levied, from 6^th policy year onwards. (please note that this policy Admin charge from 2^nd year onwards is on the premium you pay every year & interestingly not on the total Fund value of that policy year. It makes lot of difference if any charge is imposed on total fund value).

c)       Mortality Charge : Depends on Customer age. But meager one. Will be known on generating Benefit Illustrations.

d)      Fund Management Charges: This is the important & expensive charge levied by the Fund Manager. The regulator in India has capped FMC at 1.35% across all the market linked markets in India. Accordingly, all most all the investment products fixed FMC of 1.35%. But, Exide Life Wealth Elite charges 1.25% FMC on all its prime Fund options like, Growth Fund, Balanced Funds. For preserver & Secure fund options, the FMC will be 1%.  The FMC rate of 1.25% makes the actual difference with other schemes available in the market who actually charges 1.35%. FMC charge of 1.25% is the most reasonable in the market.

FMC is the only charge which is charged on the total Fund value. All other above mentioned charges are charged on the premium that is paid in that respective year. When all the above mentioned total charges including FMC is averaged out, the Year on Year average charges will be arriving at 2.5%, which is almost equal to a charges of ‘Equity Oriented Mutual fund schemes. In a Mutual Fund scheme, NAV(net asset value) of a unit is arrived after deducting all the scheme related charges like FMC, Allocation charge etc. Charges in Mutual Fund scheme is tilted with NAV & arrived at unit price. The average charge deducted with MF scheme will be almost 2.5%. Interestingly, customer will not be able to view the charges levied in a Mutual Fund Scheme. In the statement he/she can be able to view only number of units allotted & final unit price arrived.

                

More importantly, with the same amount of charges, customer can choose ‘Life Cover’ upto 20 times of annualized premium in  Exide Life Wealth Elite, unlike Mutual Fund scheme( Mutual Fund Scheme gives no life cover). For instance, if a customer pays Rs 5 lac premium with ‘Exide Life wealth Elite’ he can choose minimum 10 times life cover (i.e, 50 lac life cover) & maximum 20 times (1 Cr life cover).

Also, from regulatory point of view, Exide Life Wealth Elite works in favor of investor, since ULIP guidelines made mandatory of delivering minimum Annualized Returns (IRR) of 7.5% unlike Mutual Fund schemes.

Working of the plan- Choose an Annual Regular Premium for this Policy. Choose a Policy Term which is minimum 10 years or later. Choose a Life Cover which is 10 – 20 times of the Annual Premium. Choose investment strategy in the choice of 7 funds.

In case you have any further query, please feel free to get in touch in the under mentioned number.

Mr Ravi Kumar. Financial Consultant (Code: 60272381), Exide Life Insurance Co Ltd. Branch- B 21, # 28, 6th floor, Centenary building, M.G Road, Bangalore-560 001.

Cell:     +919844519872, +919980927393
Email:  ravi.sampige@gmail.com

              qropstoindia@gmail.com

Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme.(QROPS): Moving Dutch Pension to a Recognised Pension Schem...

Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme.(QROPS): Moving Dutch Pension to a Recognised Pension Schem...: India based Dutch expats who are relocating and retiring in India permanently can transfer their Dutch pensions to Recognized Pension Sche...

Moving Dutch Pension to a Recognised Pension Scheme in India

India based Dutch expats who are relocating and retiring in India permanently can transfer their Dutch pensions to Recognized Pension Scheme to avoid Dutch income tax, any capital gains tax in the Netherlands and avoid any Dutch taxes on death. You will also need to check the DTA between the country you reside in at retirement and the ROPS.

In accordance to the Pension Act, an International Value Transfer (IVT) of pension benefits accumulated in the Netherlands to a foreign country, is possible under certain conditions. You can transfer your pension accruals to various EU and non-EU pension schemes.

However, international tax-free transfers of Dutch pension benefits are only possible if approved by the tax authorities in the Netherlands.

You will need to phone both your Dutch pension company and the Dutch tax authorities, the Belastingdienst on +31 55 538 5385 to organise the “transfer out” papers and get the latest transfer value for your pension pot.Once the Dutch tax authority and your Dutch pension company allow a transfer, we can help you move your Dutch pension to India and invest it with the best investment Pension Schemes in India.

Why Transfer a Dutch Pension to a Recognised Pension Scheme in India ?

Here are some of the reasons to transfer a Dutch pension to India:

Benefits of a Dutch Pension Transfer Overseas to a ROPS in India. Benefits Only Apply if the Member is Not Tax Resident in the Netherlands

Ø  Avoids Dutch taxes like Dutch income tax,  Wealth & Estate taxes etc.,  

Ø  Receive Pension & other benefits in Indian currency.

Ø  Benefit from better appreciation opportunity presented by the Indian market.

Ø  Leave behind the unused pension funds for your beneficiary without any tax liability.

Ø  Benefits from a Growing Indian economy : In economies like Netherlands expected annual returns are in the range of 2 to 4%. Whereas India offers better earning opportunity than the Dutch market may offer. For instance, the Term-Deposit rate in India is above 8%.

Summary

The pension scheme in India presents you a unique opportunity where you can save 100% of your pension contributions made in Dutch.

The Indian economic growth provides an opportunity to improve returns on investments in comparison to Netherland/Dutch.

The 2014 budget in the Netherlands hit Dutch pensions hard. Some of the changes meant that:

Pension accruals (pension savings) will reduce for employees

 Survivor pensions payable on death would be reduced

In the event of disability, the level of insured coverage would be lower than at present

Reduced risk coverage

Can i transfer my Dutch Pension Scheme to an Indian Pension Scheme?

As of January 1, 2007, certain provisions concerning international transfers of pensions for Dutch expats moving overseas were incorporated in the Dutch Pensions Act .

Some of these provisions impose new obligations on pension funds. Thus, your current pension scheme is now obliged to co-operate in certain situations and must decide themselves whether the conditions are met to allow a transfer.

In other situations the pension administrator has the discretionary power to decide whether or not to co-operate; in these cases too, certain conditions apply.

Pension administrators have thereby acquired a personal responsibility with regard to international value transfers (IVT’s). In other words, your pension scheme has the ability to say yes or no to allow the transfer.

How to Transfer a Dutch Pension to a Recognised Pension Scheme In India ?

 How do I transfer my Dutch pension to a pension Scheme In India ?

You need to contact both the Dutch government’s tax revenue collection agency, the Belastingdienst, and you will also need to contact your current pension providers and ask them for an International Value Transfer (ITV).

Which Dutch pensions qualify to transfer overseas?

You cannot transfer Dutch state pensions (pillar 1) overseas. You can transfer second pillar and third pillar pensions though. That is those pensions where the employer and a member have contributed to a pension and private pension contributions.

Any Dutch pillar II pension can be transferred overseas if your current pension providers and Dutch tax authorities allow it.

To know in detail about the benefits or amount of pensionable service, the transfer value payment of Dutch pension pot will buy in the receiving pension scheme in India & also to know more about the options, pension schemes available in India to get your Dutch pensions transferred, I wish to schedule a free, no obligation telephone consultation to discuss ways I can help yourself and any of your colleagues who has accumulated pension fund in Netherland/Dutch. I can also be reached with the following contact details.

Mr Ravi Kumar. Financial Consultant (Code: 60272381), Exide Life Insurance Co Ltd. Branch- B 21, # 28, 6th floor, Centenary building, M.G Road, Bangalore-560 001.

Cell:     +919844519872, +919980927393
Email:  ravi.sampige@gmail.com

Transfer your Malta Pensions to a QROPS in India. A unique opportunity for India based overseas citizens who has invested their UK pensions in Malta based QROPS.

Many India based UK citizens have accumulated pensions with UK pensioners like NHS, Aviva, Standard Life etc., & finally got their UK pensions transferred to Malta based QROPS trustees like, Sovereign Group, STM Malta, The Momentum Pensions etc, . 

Malta is an English-speaking jurisdiction with excellent regulation and a flexible approach to QROPS.  As a full EU and Commonwealth member, the island has a long history of economic and financial security.

Now, India based overseas citizens, especially India based UK citizens who have transferred their UK pensions to Malta QROPS trustees can cross another milestone by re-transferring their pensions from Malta QROPS Trustees to India based QROPS schemes.

India has witnessed as the fastest growing economy in the world. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the January-March 2016 quarter came in at 7.9%. This rate of growth is far above that of comparable economies in any part of the world. The Philippines ranks a distant second, with China third in the GDP growth league tables for the January-March 2016quarter.

4 Reasons why you should look at QROPS!

> Receive Pensions in Indian Rupee

> Withdraw upto 30% tax free lumpsum at the time of vesting.

> Benefit from better appreciation opportunity presented by Indian Market

> Leave Behind the unused pensions/Funds for your beneficiary without any tax liability.

Tax Advantages and Flexibility

> Tax Free Commutation up to 1/3rd of your fund value*.

> Further contributions enjoy tax benefits u/sec 80 C*.

India offers you better earning opportunity than any other economy in the world.

Expected Annual Returns on your India based  pension fund under QROPS are in the range of above 9%

1 United Kingdom 1.60%*

2 United States 1.05%

3 Australia 4.20%

4 India 9.04%**

5 South Africa 5.89%

6 China 3.30%

Guaranteed Returns

• Guaranteed rate of return

• Guaranteed fund protection so that you are

. guaranteed of a peaceful retired life

Flexibility

• Save more through Top-Up Premiums.

• Decide premium payment duration with an

  option to alter it.

• Decide premium frequency

.  Decide age of retirement

Malta based Sovereign QROPS  have introduced new transfer out fees in light of these circumstances. They are as follows

Centaurus Retirement Benefit Scheme

Within one year of establishment €3,000

Within two years of establishment €2,000

Within three years of establishment, and thereafter €1,000

Centaurus Lite Scheme

Within one year of establishment € 1,500

Within two years of establishment € 1,000

Within three years of establishment, and thereafter € 500

To know in detail about the benefits or amount of pensionable service, the transfer value payment of Malta pension pot will buy in the receiving pension scheme in India & also to know more about the options, pension schemes available in India to get your UK based Malta pensions transferred, I wish to schedule a free, no obligation telephone consultation to discuss ways I can help yourself and any of your colleagues who has accumulated pension fund in UK & the same is invested in  Malta pension scheme. I can also be reached with the following contact details.

Mr Ravi Kumar. Financial Consultant (Code: 60272381), Exide Life Insurance Co Ltd. Branch- B 21, # 28, 6th floor, Centenary building, M.G Road, Bangalore-560 001, Karnataka, India.

Cell:     +919844519872, +919980927393

Email:  ravi.sampige@gmail.com