The QROPS form is HMRC's APSS263, handed to your UK scheme administrator within 60 days of asking to transfer. The steps around it run in a set order.

Moving a UK pension to a QROPS is a sequence of checks, requests and paperwork, and the order matters because one form has a clock on it. Whether your own transfer is sensible, and how it would be taxed, turns on facts only you hold, such as your country of residence and the receiving scheme; those facts are what an FCA-authorised adviser will weigh with you on a free call back if you use the form here.

How to transfer a UK pension to a QROPS, step by step

GOV.UK says the overseas scheme "must be a 'qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme' ( QROPS )" and that "it's up to you to check this". In practice the steps run like this:

  1. Check the overseas scheme. Look for it on HMRC's published list of recognised overseas pension schemes, then ask the scheme itself to confirm that it meets the conditions today. The list is a first check only, as the next paragraphs explain.
  2. Find out what you hold and what it is worth. Ask your UK scheme for a transfer value. For a final salary or other defined benefit pension, how a transfer value is worked out is covered separately.
  3. Get advice if you are moving safeguarded benefits, such as a final salary pension, worth over £30,000. The threshold is a transfer value, set in regulation 5 of SI 2015/742, and is explained on the advice requirement page.
  4. Complete the overseas scheme's own paperwork. Each receiving scheme has its own application and identity requirements, which differ by scheme and country, so ask it for the full list. You will need its HMRC QROPS reference number for the next step.
  5. Complete form APSS263 and send it to your UK scheme administrator. The detail is below. Send it with, or soon after, your transfer request.
  6. The UK administrator checks, pays and reports. HMRC's guidance for administrators says they must report a transfer to a QROPS "within 60 calendar days of a transfer" and, tax-free or not, tell both you and the overseas scheme manager how it was treated.
  7. Tell both schemes if you later move country. When that applies is in the APSS241 section below.

Do the step 1 check late, not once at the start. HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual says looking at the list "no more than one day before the transfer" confirms that the scheme has notified HMRC, but not that it meets the ROPS requirements, which the manual calls "a matter of fact". If it turns out not to be a QROPS, GOV.UK warns that your UK scheme may refuse the transfer or you may pay at least 40% tax. What the list does and does not prove is covered in checking HMRC's list and QROPS vs ROPS.

Which tax charge applies, the tests a scheme must meet and the period after a transfer when moving country matters are explained on HMRC's QROPS rules, so they are not repeated here. Where a country has QROPS at all is on which countries have QROPS.

The QROPS form: what APSS263 is and what it asks

GOV.UK calls it "Member information (APSS263)": the way you give your scheme administrator what they need to move money out of a registered pension scheme to a QROPS. It is a three-page HMRC form, dated 01/25, that you fill in yourself. The scheme administrator "will need this information to determine whether your transfer is liable to the overseas transfer charge", and the form itself says they need it before proceeding with your request.

The questions fall into four groups:

  • About you: your full name, National Insurance number, date of birth and principal residential address, which may not be care of the scheme manager or, unless your country makes it necessary, a PO box. If that address is outside the UK it also asks for your last UK address and the date you left. Everyone gives a contact phone number, and question 7A asks for the "amount of the available overseas transfer allowance before making this transfer".
  • About the QROPS: its HMRC reference number, name, address and the country in which it is "established and regulated", then three yes or no questions on whether it is an occupational scheme, an overseas public service scheme or an international organisation's scheme.
  • Your employment details, asked only if you answered yes to one of those three: employer, job title, address, start date and, if you know it, a payroll tax reference number.
  • Acknowledgement: whether you have "been told that you can access some or all of the value of this transfer, either directly or indirectly before you reach the age of 55", statements that you know the transfer or later payments could be taxed in the UK, an undertaking to pay tax to HMRC and provide information on a taxable transfer, and a signed declaration that the information is "correct and complete".

Question 7A wants a figure in pounds, the allowance still available before this transfer, and the form gives no help working it out; how the allowance is set and used up is on the rules page. If you are unsure of your number, a call arranged through the quote form below could cover how to arrive at it before you sign. The form can be downloaded from GOV.UK, Pension schemes: member information (APSS263).

The 60 days: what the clock covers

The form must reach your scheme administrator "within 60 days of your transfer request". The form itself spells out the consequence: if the information is not with the administrator in time, "your transfer will be subject to the overseas transfer charge", which GOV.UK's transfer guidance puts at 25%. Two details are easy to miss. The deadline runs from the date you asked to transfer, not the date the money moves, and it covers everything the form asks, so a half-completed form is a risk.

HMRC's guidance to administrators is that they should automatically deduct the overseas transfer charge if they have not received the information within those 60 days, and its APSS263 page tells members the administrator will deduct it before making the transfer. Ask your UK scheme, too, what else it wants alongside the HMRC form. How your own dates would work, including when the request counts as made, can be talked through with an adviser by asking for a call-back via the short form on this page.

After the transfer: form APSS241 if you move country

HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual says "Members still need to give information to the transferring scheme administrator and scheme managers after the transfer has been made". The trigger is a change of country: members "need to provide information when they stop or start being resident in a country after the transfer". Two limits apply. The move must fall within the relevant period for the transfer, and the duty covers a transfer that was charged, or one that escaped the charge because you lived in the QROPS's country (or, for a request made before 30 October 2024 and completed before 30 April 2025, because of the old EEA and Gibraltar exclusion). The manual sets the time limit: "within 60 days of becoming (or ceasing to be) resident".

For a transfer straight from a UK scheme, the manual names who you tell: the UK scheme administrator that made the transfer and the manager of the QROPS that received it. The form is APSS241, and GOV.UK says a change of residence "may mean that you have to pay UK tax on an earlier overseas transfer or later payment out of the overseas scheme", or that tax already paid "can be reclaimed from HM Revenue and Customs". How long the relevant period lasts is on the rules page. If you are thinking about coming back, moving a QROPS back to the UK and what happens to a pension when you move abroad cover the next questions.

Checks to make before you sign the transfer paperwork

Before signing APSS263 or a transfer request, run through four questions:

  • Who started this? If a pension call comes out of the blue, the FCA says to put the phone down, and it treats an unexpected offer of a free review as a likely scam.
  • Is the adviser authorised? Check the FCA register yourself; the FCA warns against taking advice from any firm that approached you first.
  • Who is advising from abroad? If you live overseas and use non-UK firms, the FCA warns you "may not have the same level of protection, and there may be extra charges or commissions".
  • Did you answer your UK scheme's questions yourself? If it sends you questions about the transfer, answer them in your own words rather than leaving them to whoever is arranging the move.

For a final salary or other defined benefit pension, the FCA and The Pensions Regulator "believe it's in most people's best interests to keep their DB pension", and the FCA adds that a transfer cannot be reversed. The full list of warning signs is on the FCA's pension scams page, with more in pension scams and finding a pension transfer specialist.

Questions about the QROPS process and forms

What is a QROPS transfer?

It is a transfer of UK pension savings to an overseas scheme that has told HMRC it meets the conditions to be a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme. The tests and their effect on tax are on HMRC's QROPS rules, and the label is compared with a ROPS on QROPS vs ROPS.

Which form do I need to transfer to a QROPS?

Form APSS263, "Member information", which you give to your UK scheme administrator. APSS241 is a different form, used afterwards in some cases if you change country within the relevant period.

Is there an HMRC QROPS application form for me?

Your HMRC form is APSS263, which goes to your UK scheme administrator rather than to HMRC. The form that makes a scheme a QROPS, APSS251, is for the scheme's manager, and joining the overseas scheme means its own application paperwork.

How long do I have to send the form?

60 days from your transfer request. If the information the form asks for is not provided in time, GOV.UK says the transfer will be taxed at 25%.

Can I transfer a pension abroad if I still live in the UK?

The process is the same, but where you live affects whether the 25% charge applies, which is covered on the rules page. Whether a transfer suits a UK resident is a question for an adviser.

Does it cost anything to set up a QROPS?

Ask the overseas scheme, your UK scheme and any adviser for their charges in writing before you sign. The FCA warns that non-UK advisers may bring extra charges or commissions, and the wider picture of transfer costs is on pension transfer fees.

Do I need advice before I transfer?

Yes, if you are moving safeguarded benefits (a final salary pension, for example) with a transfer value over £30,000: the Pension Schemes Act 2015 makes the trustees or managers check that you have had appropriate independent advice, and that applies to a transfer to a scheme outside Great Britain. Below that figure, or for other pensions, this rule does not apply, though an adviser can still look at your whole position in one conversation.

Your next step

The paperwork is the same for everyone, but the figure at question 7A, the date your request counts from and whether a later move would bring APSS241 into play are yours alone. To go through them with someone before anything is signed, leave your details in the call-back form and expect a ring, free of charge, from an FCA-authorised adviser. Your UK scheme administrator can answer questions about its own process, and the country you live in or are moving to has its own rules, so advice there is worth having too. Transfers between UK schemes are covered in how to transfer a pension.