QROPS Thailand in 2026, when it makes sense, when it doesn’t

The 2017 Overseas Transfer Charge cut the QROPS market off at the knees for most expats. A British pension transferred to a non-EEA QROPS by a person who is themselves not resident in that QROPS’s jurisdiction now attracts a 25% charge. For most of the British expat population in Thailand, that single rule removed QROPS from consideration overnight.

The 2024 remittance tax change is the second headline. The case for QROPS in 2026 has to account for both.

For a British expat resident in Thailand for the foreseeable future, with a pension pot above roughly £250,000, the standard argument is still: a QROPS in a jurisdiction with an appropriate double tax agreement can produce a better long-run tax outcome than a UK SIPP, particularly for clients with no plan to return to the UK and no intention of taking a UK lump sum.

That argument is still valid in narrow cases. It is not valid in most cases.

Anyone whose long-term plan includes returning to the UK. Anyone whose pension pot is under roughly £250,000, the fees rarely make the maths work. Anyone who has not asked, in writing, what their adviser is paid on the transfer. Anyone who hasn’t had the maths done both ways.

For most British expats in Thailand in 2026, the right answer is a UK SIPP or the existing scheme, not a transfer. The QROPS conversation is worth having only after the UK option has been costed out honestly. The fee structure on most QROPS offerings still benefits the adviser more than the client.