Omg - My Brain Is Going To Burst!!!

[gigglesems]

Although moving out to oz is a dream come true - everything else seems to be a nightmare. I am to the point where I feel that my head is seriously going to implode if I have to think anymore!!!

My husband, myself and my son have been granted a 457 visa and my husband has a job in place. We decided to go for this as it seemed like the 'quick' option of moving - we have been so sick of our jobs and lives here we were desperate. Since the happy moment of finding out we had the visa things seem to be going downhill.

Our house has been on the market for 7 weeks and has been reduced 1k for every week its been on - 7k out of pocket already! We have reached a point where we are going to have to leave it on the market and get a loan to pay for the mortgage (otherwise we will not be able to afford the rent in oz). I am unsure where this leaves us financially - I am not very good with the likes of tax etc - dont know if we will have to pay additional tax once we sell the house.

Money is going to be very tight for us once we are in oz - money is tight for us here and the little extra we get from child benefit and child tax credit helps us along the way. I have been looking into similar things in oz and it appears that on our 457 visa we get none of this. We do plan to apply for PR however we are going to struggle to pay for this if money is so tight.

We have no idea what we need to do with our pensions here - whether we should cash them in or transfer them what with us only being temps.

Can anyone out there help me? The pressure is getting to me a little at the moment and we should be flying out at the beginning of June.

Please help to restore my faith - what with the pressure, I am starting to wonder if we are doing the right thing!!!

[sadsmile23]

hi there giggles!
cant help with the questions about house, but i do believe regarding your pension, you have a 6 month window in which to transfer them to Oz.
Sure someone will correct me if im wrong on that. I understand your dilemma with the money situation - we will be in exactly the same boat as you - OH's work slowing down here, so any extra money we hoped to get to be saving has gone out of the window and god only knows what will happen when we try and sell our house.

Can only wish you luck in your house sale and your move to Oz and hope it all turns out the way you dreamed it would

[Rickard Family]

Hi, I wanted to cash my pension in, not that i got much in it, but was told you cant cash them in only transfer them. is this true, its annoying if it is i need it now not in 30 years. Does anyone know different.

[gail39]

Originally Posted by Rickard Family

Hi, I wanted to cash my pension in, not that i got much in it, but was told you cant cash them in only transfer them. is this true, its annoying if it is i need it now not in 30 years. Does anyone know different.

hi rickard family
yes you are right you cant cash in your pensions,only freeze them and either transfer them over to australia,which can be complicated i think,someone may correct me on this.We have left ours private pension frozen in the uk,as we were told we can draw on it if we are still in australia when we retire????? I think you will pay tax on the interest that it makes if it is a private pension..???? Hope this helps

[tommo64]

Hi there,

There are companies that specialise in pension transfers, I know cos there were some at the London Expo last year. Can't remember the names off-hand but if you look on t'internet, I'm sure something will come up. Might be worth contacting an independent financial advisor too.

As for the house situation, if it is your main residential home and not a second home (e.g., holiday home, buy-to-let, etc.) you shouldn't be liable for CGT as far as I'm aware, even if you are renting in Oz. You should check this with an accountant or tax advisor to be sure though.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Tricky71]

Originally Posted by Rickard Family

Hi, I wanted to cash my pension in, not that i got much in it, but was told you cant cash them in only transfer them. is this true, its annoying if it is i need it now not in 30 years. Does anyone know different.

Yep, frozen until your 60.

I was lucky, I thought my company pension was automatic when I joined! Then 5 years down the line I found out I did not have one, I started one and when I cashed it in it had been running for 23 months. After 2 years it is either frozen or it can be transferred.

Tricky71 (Martin)

[Liam]

Firstly do not worry about any tax on the eventual sale of your home as you will not have to pay any Australian or UK tax on the sale of your main residence.

also once you qualify for a PR over here and depending on the State you move to, you may be entitled to a First Homeowners Grant (dose not count having owned a home in UK) of $7K and also some Stamp Duty Relief if you buy a house under a certain value. So please cheer up a little ,,,,their is light at the end of the tunnel.

Have you Husband look into the Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA). You can search on the threads here for some great info on it or contact an Accountant out here. If he can get his employer to salary package using this system the you could more than recoup the losses on your property in 1-2 years. Here are some links to Alan Collets site Go Matilda about LAFHA

LAFHA - please help....please explain!!! - Topic Powered by eve community

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/docume..._Allowance.pdf


Here is a link to document on our website that explains the UK and Australian Pension systems and pros and cons of moving etc

Genesys Wealth Advisers

Pensions:

Under UK tax law you can transfer your pension to Australia as long as it is to a QROPS Scheme, basically a list of providers in Australia who agree to follow the rules laid down by the British Tax office for the first 5 years after your transfer.

Under Australian Tax law you can transfer over any overseas pension and to help migrants they offer a special window of 6 months from the time you become a permanent resident to do the transfer without any tax on the earnings.

If you wait until after the 6 months to transfer your pensions then you only pay tax at 15%on the growth in your pension since the day you became a permanent resident (exercised the visa by entering the country). So for example if you moved a year ago and are only now transferring your pension then you would pay tax on the growth in the last 12 months (sadly probably a minus figure!).

Weigh this up against the benefit of waiting until you were settled in Australia for a year, comfortable that you planned to stay and in a position to take the decison that this was a lifetime move.

I always recomend that if people are not sure that they will stay in OZ and that they want to have some time here first that they do the ground work first and have all the details of their pension including a name and email/telephone number of a manager/supervisor in the Pensions Claim department of their Pension service. Then take 6-12 months to see how they enjoy Australia and once they are comfortable they start the transfer process and see a Financial Planner (yes that's a plug for my service!) to make sure you make the right moves.

Why not wait longer?

Well under australian tax law you are taxed on your worldwide income and this could mean that you need to annually declare the growth in your UK Pension as income and be taxed at your marginal tax rate under the Foreigh Investment Funds rules. You need to get individual advice on your tax circumstances to decide how these effect you.

Hope this helps and that you get an offer on your house soon.



Liam