International Retirement Savings Plans (IRSPs)

IRSPs cover a range of trust and savings plans with different criteria including the ability for savings to be acknowledged by tax authorities as capital, and hence not taxable.

Often, existing pension schemes and arrangements do not cover all the requirements of an individual, particularly if they have moved outside the UK or are of non-UK origin. Other non-UK jurisdictions do not have such restrictive regulations which control and limit pension based planning. We provide a variety of specialist internationally based pension arrangements which are considerably more flexible than those available solely within the UK jurisdictions. Retention of a retirement savings protocol often provides preferential tax treatment included in various country's individual tax codes. Certainty in planning in a number of instances is therefore as secure as possible.

IRSPs cover a range of trust and savings plans with different criteria. These include:

The ability for savings to be acknowledged by tax authorities as capital and hence not taxable
The possibility of ring-fencing income and gains so that remission of funds can be a return of capital in the first instance and hence not taxable
Possible segmentation of various pension arrangements to ensure no or low tax encashment. (NB Not all jurisdictions recognise a tax free commutation principle)
Possibility of payment of Annuity self-funded by the Savings Plan itself. Using a purchased Annuity based principle, usually only a small fraction of the Annuity payment is regarded as income and hence taxable. It is usual for gross payments to be at least 90% tax exempt. Even with a 50% tax rate this leads to an overall effective net tax rate of only 5% of the amount received.
Possible advance ruling and tax treatment available in some jurisdictions
Ability to place assets into the IRSP in specie, including private company shares, freehold property and private investments
Assets of the IRSP are treated as outside the estate of the individual to provide their IHT advantages
Assets can be passed on to future generations and used, such as overseas holiday home, boats etc.
For UK purposes, not treated as a transfer to a private Trust and therefore no UK IHT triggered