HMRC publishes no list of countries that can host a QROPS, only a list of schemes. This guide covers what that list shows and the 25% charge to check.

If you are asking which countries have QROPS, the official answer is about schemes, not places, and it changes twice a month. Whether a transfer is taxed also turns on where you live. Your residence and scheme decide most of this, so the form on this page exists to get them reviewed with an FCA-authorised adviser firm that phones you back, at no cost.

Is there an official list of QROPS countries?

No. HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual says so directly: "For this reason, HMRC does not provide a list of countries that can ‘host’ a QROPS." Qualification depends on both the scheme's design and the law of the country where it is established, and both "can change at any time", so a scheme "may stop or start being capable of meeting the QROPS conditions at any time". The one fixed point: a scheme in a country with no system of taxing personal income cannot be a QROPS.

So any website list of "QROPS countries" is one writer's view on one date. A QROPS is a pension scheme established outside the UK that is broadly similar to a UK registered pension scheme; it must meet the ROPS rules and tell HMRC it will report information on pension savings that have received UK tax relief. See what a QROPS is and QROPS and ROPS.

The status "only has significance for UK tax purposes", in the manual's words. Whether a transfer can happen at all depends on whether the receiving scheme can accept it under its own country's law. HMRC understands, for example, that US individual retirement arrangements cannot accept one from a UK registered scheme.

What HMRC's published list shows, and how often it changes

The nearest thing to a register is GOV.UK's recognised overseas pension schemes notification list. It contains schemes that have told HMRC they meet the conditions to be a recognised overseas pension scheme (ROPS) and have asked to be included. It is updated on the 1st and 15th of each month, and sometimes at short notice to remove schemes temporarily during reviews, for example where fraud is suspected.

It is a list of scheme names, grouped under country headings. When we read it on 20 October 2026, its headings included Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man among many others, and the 15 October 2026 update was recorded as 25 schemes added, 17 removed and one amended. That is a snapshot, out of date by the next update, so check the live page.

The list is also narrower than it looks. HMRC's manual says it shows that a scheme manager has notified HMRC, wishes to appear on it and has undertaken to provide information, and "this is all it shows". Not every notified scheme chooses to appear, and the list is "not to be taken as a recommendation for a particular entity or product". A letter from HMRC giving a QROPS number is likewise "not confirmation that the scheme is or will remain a QROPS". See how to check HMRC's list.

How to weigh one place against another

A ranking of places would depend on facts about you that no list holds, and HMRC offers none. Its guidance does give a set of things to weigh.

  • The purpose. Transfers to a QROPS are allowed free of UK tax "because they enable people permanently leaving the UK to simplify their affairs".
  • Where you will live. Residence for tax purposes is central both to the overseas transfer charge, below, and to later payments: any pension paid from a QROPS "will be taxable if the member is UK resident when they receive the pension". How the other country taxes the money is a question for advice there.
  • The scheme's conditions. A scheme has to be based in a country or territory with a double taxation agreement that provides for the exchange of information, or a tax information exchange agreement, and, outside government public service schemes, must only make payments to members under 55 if they have retired because of ill health. It must tell HMRC every 5 years that it is still a ROPS, and to keep its status from 6 April 2028 its rules should reflect an age of 57, with exceptions for ill health and certain lump sums.
  • Evidence. A scheme that genuinely qualifies "should be in a position to provide evidence of how the scheme meets those conditions", and members should take independent professional advice and confirm this with the scheme manager first.

Since 6 April 2025, schemes in the European Economic Area (EEA) must meet the same conditions as those in the rest of the world, so an EEA location is not a shortcut. See whether a QROPS is a good idea for the risks.

The 25% overseas transfer charge and when it does not apply

On GOV.UK's account, a transfer to a QROPS can be taxed at 25%, depending on where the QROPS is based and on your available overseas transfer allowance. If no exemption applies, the 25% falls on the total amount transferred. If an exemption applies but the transfer is above your allowance, the 25% falls on the excess. The allowance is usually £1,073,100, and may be higher with a protected allowance. What is available to you is lower if you have made earlier transfers to a QROPS, and on your first transfer on or after 6 April 2024 the lifetime allowance you used before that date is deducted. If the scheme is not a QROPS, your UK scheme may refuse the transfer or you could pay at least 40% tax. The member must work out whether the charge applies and "cannot rely on scheme administrators" to do it.

The exemptions as HMRC states them

For transfers requested on or after 30 October 2024, the Pensions Tax Manual says the charge applies "if none of the following four exclusion conditions is met":

  • the member is resident in the same country as the one in which the receiving QROPS is established;
  • the QROPS is set up by an international organisation to provide benefits for past service as its employee, and the member is an employee of that organisation (which "does NOT simply mean a multi-national employer");
  • the QROPS is an overseas public service pension scheme and the member is an employee of an employer that participates in it;
  • the QROPS is an occupational pension scheme and the member is an employee of a sponsoring employer under it.

These depend on you giving the scheme administrator the required information before the transfer; without it the exemptions "will not apply". On GOV.UK, the transfer is taxed at 25% if you do not give the information form APSS 263 asks for within 60 days of requesting it. Residence means tax residence, which varies by country.

The 30 October 2024 change for the EEA and Gibraltar

For earlier transfers there was a fifth condition: a QROPS established in the EEA or Gibraltar, with a member resident in the UK, the EEA or Gibraltar. HMRC says that exclusion "applies only in respect of transfers requested before 30 October 2024 and completed before 30 April 2025", so a request made in time but completed later lost it too. An EEA or Gibraltar location no longer exempts a transfer on its own; one of the four conditions is needed, or the charge applies. The EEA here means "any EU member state as well as Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland".

The five-year period after a transfer

An exempt transfer can become chargeable. GOV.UK says that if you move countries within 5 years of the transfer, you complete form APSS 241 and give it to your scheme administrator: you get a refund if you have moved to the QROPS's country, and pay 25% if you have moved away from it. The manual calls this the "relevant period". It runs from the transfer to the following 5 April, plus a further five years from 6 April, so unless the transfer was made on 6 April it lasts longer than five years. The QROPS manager must tell HMRC of an address change in that period.

Which exemption fits, and what a later move could trigger, depends on your residence plans and the scheme's set-up. Both are worth airing early, and a firm of FCA-authorised advisers will call you about them if you send in the form on this page.

Final salary pensions and scam warnings

A final salary or other defined benefit pension needs particular care. The FCA and The Pensions Regulator take the view that most people are better off keeping one, and a transfer cannot be undone. Where the safeguarded benefits have a transfer value above £30,000, valued before any reduction for scheme underfunding, the scheme must check you have had appropriate independent advice (SI 2015/742, regulation 5). Nothing here suggests moving one to a QROPS; see final salary pensions, transfer values, finding a specialist and transfer costs.

Overseas schemes are also a familiar route for scams. The Pensions Regulator warns of transfers "to a scheme the scammer controls", often into unusual high-risk investments, many overseas, where it is hard to check "whether the investment exists". Cold calling about pensions is illegal, and an adviser should be checked on the FCA register, never taken from whoever contacted you. The warning signs are set out in our guide to consolidation and on the FCA's pension scams page; the FCA takes reports on 0800 111 6768.

Questions about QROPS countries

Is a QROPS in Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man a good choice?

HMRC does not rank places. When we read the notification list on 20 October 2026 each of the four had a heading with schemes under it, but that says only that schemes had notified HMRC. What suits you depends on the scheme, your residence and the charge above; QROPS or an international SIPP compares one alternative.

Which countries in Europe have a QROPS, and is there an EU or EEA QROPS?

HMRC publishes no country list, so check scheme names on its notification list. The EEA exemption from the 25% charge no longer covers requests made on or after 30 October 2024.

Does a particular country such as Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic or Monaco have QROPS?

Not from a country name: HMRC says qualification depends on the scheme's design and the country's law. Look the scheme up by name on the live list, then ask its manager for evidence.

Can I move a QROPS back into a UK scheme?

HMRC's manual says a transfer to a registered pension scheme is not within scope of the overseas transfer charge. The UK scheme decides whether to accept it; see moving a QROPS back to the UK.

Your next step

Weighing the charge, the scheme and your plans together is simpler with an FCA-authorised adviser alongside; the enquiry form on this page requests that free call-back. See also moving a UK pension abroad, moving abroad and how to transfer a pension.

Sources, accessed 20 October 2026: GOV.UK, Transferring your pension; HMRC Pensions Tax Manual PTM102000 to PTM112400; GOV.UK, notification list and QROPS guidance; SI 2015/742, regulation 5; FCA and TPR scams and transfer pages.