Permanent resident getting super back when move back to the UK

Has anyone managed to claim back there super if you are a permanent resident and have moved back to the UK for Good.

Any advice would be great or if they don't pay it out can you transfer the funds over to a UK pension?

Thanks

I had a super with AMP and enquired about withdrawing the funds when I started to consider moving home. Based on the info they gave me......you can withdraw it, but they take a lot of fees, as much as 40%. The rest can be transfered into your bank account.

You'll need a flight booked back to the UK to forward to them as proof of moving home.

I ended up transfering the funds into another Super and opting to stay in Oz for another few years. They charged quite a bit for that too.

The ATO say you cant do it as a permanent resident but I do believe that someone from BE may have been able to do it. Yes they will whack you for tax on it because it currently attracts a lower rate of tax with the intention of supporting you in your old age.

Superannuation - Applications & Forms

Hi ya,

I worked in Oz some 12 years ago, I temped and moved around alot (3 years in total). When we were leaving we were told that we couldnt claim back the super and had to leave it there until retirement.

However a couple of years ago, I discovered that the law had changed again and that we could now reclaim the super if we had left Oz permanently.

So if you go onto the tax office website, and put in your tax file number, it will list all the super companies that have money on your behalf (this was handy as I temped and moved around so had no idea!!). I wrote to each one of them, they sent me a form to fill out, and I had to provide a list of documentations, e.g. copy of exit visa, passport, proof of current address. You do pay exit tax, and i think its 25% if I remember right, but they will let you know prior.

It was a nice little windfall for us!!!!

Kind Regards

Caz

No the law has not changed with regards to permanent residents as far as I am aware,temporary residents can certainly access their superannuation entitlements when departing Australia permanently but permanent residents is a different story as far as I know,perhaps one of the financial advisers who regularly contribute here can clarify this point for us one way or the other?.

Just taking this one step further - Could we also have an answer for citizens Please - I am intrigued

Australian citizens cannot access their superannuation until retirement age except for very limited circumstances,you can make application for release of preserved contributions due to severe financial hardship but even then the process is quite involved,a citizen moving overseas permanently is still unable to access their preserved contributions until they retire or leave the workforce due to disability.

When can I access my super benefits?

Thanks Nigel

Hi,

Sorry I was on a 457 (temp), so maybe it was due to the visa type I was on.???

I was unable to claim back on leaving Oz and told it was locked in until retirement age, but 2 years ago, I was researching moving back, and came across info regarding changes to the super rules, claiming your super back if you have permanently left the country.

Apparently the government decided it was not fair to deduct all this super from backpackers and workers who had moved back to their home country permanently. They had millions held in dormant accounts with no contact details, so they changed the law to enable migrants to claim it back on leaving permanently.

This may only be an option if you have a temp visa, like working hol or 457, not sure. That was not stipulated to me, only that I had left the country permanently, so had to show exit visa stamp, and proof of residence.

Its a pity if you cant, as you could go over on a 175/176 and not like it and come home, leaving a relatively small amount of money sitting there.

Sorry if I mislead, didnt realise the visa type was relevant. I was temp 457.

Kind Regards

Caz

i enquired to my super fund and was told that as a perm resi i couldn't withdraw.

On the up side, I could still pay contributions, even if I'm out of the country, providing i was paying in aussie dollars.

So depending on the exchange rate and the performanace of the share markets it may be worth tipping that extra into your aussie super rather than your UK pension.

Has anyone managed to claim back there super if you are a permanent resident and have moved back to the UK for Good.

 

Any advice would be great or if they don't pay it out can you transfer the funds over to a UK pension?

 

Thanks

Now what I dont understand is, even as a Permanent resident, if you leave Aus after your 5 year date on your passport sticker, you need an RSV to return to Aus. If you havent applied for one of these you have no entry back into Australia.To get the RSV, you have to apply for Permanent Residency all over again.So even if you go off on holiday and you have not renewed you can not come back into the country

When you apply , there is no guarantee you will get a renewal,and if they do it can be for 5 years or 3 months.So what I am saying is even as permanent reisdent , you would thinkyou would be able to get super back, as really if you have not renewed, you have no entitlement to come back to Aus. Therefore, I think it may be a very grey area, the super companies, not paying it back.If your visa has expired, you should be able to get all of your super back.

We did not realise any of this and thought as permanent reisdents, we could come and go as we please. I spoke to Immigration to clarify this and beleive me I was pretty shocked to find, this was not the case.I wonder how many, get caught out on this?You are ok, if you dont leave the country, and can stay as long as you want, but once you leave Aus, you are pretty snookered

i enquired to my super fund and was told that as a perm resi i couldn't withdraw.

 

On the up side, I could still pay contributions, even if I'm out of the country, providing i was paying in aussie dollars.

 

So depending on the exchange rate and the performanace of the share markets it may be worth tipping that extra into your aussie super rather than your UK pension.

Can you contribute to your aussie super from the UK our of your pre-tax salary or post tax? It's not worth it out of post tax salary if you then have to pay a further 15% tax when you put it in the aussie super.

Gail

Now what I dont understand is, even as a Permanent resident, if you leave Aus after your 5 year date on your passport sticker, you need an RSV to return to Aus. If you havent applied for one of these you have no entry back into Australia.To get the RSV, you have to apply for Permanent Residency all over again.So even if you go off on holiday and you have not renewed you can not come back into the country

When you apply , there is no guarantee you will get a renewal,and if they do it can be for 5 years or 3 months.So what I am saying is even as permanent reisdent , you would thinkyou would be able to get super back, as really if you have not renewed, you have no entitlement to come back to Aus. Therefore, I think it may be a very grey area, the super companies, not paying it back.If your visa has expired, you should be able to get all of your super back.

We did not realise any of this and thought as permanent reisdents, we could come and go as we please. I spoke to Immigration to clarify this and beleive me I was pretty shocked to find, this was not the case.I wonder how many, get caught out on this?You are ok, if you dont leave the country, and can stay as long as you want, but once you leave Aus, you are pretty snookered

A perfect example of why to get citizenship if you can

A perfect example of why to get citizenship if you can

Great if you intend to stay permanent, but this may be a loophole for anyone leaving and wanting to get thier super back????

If you have no entitlement to come back to Oz, then surely, they would have to pay super back? Got to be worth a try

Looking at the charges etc, on my super statement, the money I have in my funds, wont be worth anything when I retire, so I for one will be trying to claim it back, when I leave

we have been here 5 weeka and not yet got super , right now even though i love oz i think i will move back to uk in couple years so can we get away with not having super ?? i feel until we know we would stay here perm then there is no point ?? we only had 1 pension in uk also for 5 years .

we have been here 5 weeka and not yet got super , right now even though i love oz i think i will move back to uk in couple years so can we get away with not having super ?? i feel until we know we would stay here perm then there is no point ?? we only had 1 pension in uk also for 5 years .

Im pretty sure any company you work for ,has to pay super on your behalf.I dont think you can opt out.I may be wrong, but I think this is the case

The only way, to avoid paying super, is to be self-employed

Are you a permanent or tempory resident?

we have been here 5 weeka and not yet got super , right now even though i love oz i think i will move back to uk in couple years so can we get away with not having super ?? i feel until we know we would stay here perm then there is no point ?? we only had 1 pension in uk also for 5 years .

Nope, super is compulsory, your employer has to put into it. It does seem somewhat silly that you can bring money into an Aus super fund from UK but you cant do the reverse.

thanks for replys but my hubby is self employed so we could maybe not bother and im only casual work at school. we leave it the now anyway thanks again

Nope, super is compulsory, your employer has to put into it. It does seem somewhat silly that you can bring money into an Aus super fund from UK but you cant do the reverse.

Hi Quoll

I totaly agree, it is wrong and I bet not many people realise this, until they try to leave and get thier money back

Im cross to see, my statement , from my super fund, I am always shocked at the charges.Its highly unlikely that there will be anything left, in the fund, once I retire.

If people bring their pension money out from the UK, and leave Aus, they can probably wave goodbye, to a large amount of it.

This should be made clearer

Hi Caz,

I've just returned from Syd to the Uk and was on a 457, superfund with AMP.

If you were on a 457, then you can definitely claim your super back.

I had to complete a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment form and Form 1194 (Certificate of Immigration). Once you complete those and pay the fee, post them off to DIAC in Hobart.

They will then issue the Certificate that states you were the holder of an eligible visa (457) and that you have departed Australia permanently and they will then forward the forms to your Super fund who have 28 days to make the payment.

Once my super find received the certificate, I got a cheque from them within 2 weeks, sent here to the UK and they had deducted a third from the total figure.

Another option is to simply go to the ATO website and you can make a claim online but only if your superfund has passed over your money to the ATO (which they have to do after 6 months of you leaving the country).

So, if it's been under 6 months since you've left Oz, get the DASP and Form 1194 from DIAC

Over 6 months, go to the ATO website and start an application online.

Hi

We have always believed that, as PR, we can claim our super back whenever we make the final decision to leave Aus for good and give up our PR. If you decide to go for citizenship, then your super is locked in for good but I'm pretty sure that if you are only a PR, once your visa expires and you no longer have any chance of living in Oz again, you can claim your super back. It would be a bit daft otherwise as, without your PR visa, you don't stand a hope of ever retiring here....:smile:

Emma

agreed, but you know, you can always still apply for any visa once you've handed in your PR or any other visa, you would just have to go through the whole process again! I had a mate in oz (pom) that had about $20'000 in his super and he really needed the money, so he gave in his 457, went home, claimed the money back, then went back to oz on a student visa!

Hi

 

We have always believed that, as PR, we can claim our super back whenever we make the final decision to leave Aus for good and give up our PR. If you decide to go for citizenship, then your super is locked in for good but I'm pretty sure that if you are only a PR, once your visa expires and you no longer have any chance of living in Oz again, you can claim your super back. It would be a bit daft otherwise as, without your PR visa, you don't stand a hope of ever retiring here....:smile:

 

Emma

Hi Emma

What you are saying does sound correct, because unless you have a visa, you cant come back, unless you apply for another one. From what I read, on the immigration website, you have to have a good reason to come back, once your PR visa expires,ie,family, business etc etc. They dont tell you any of that when you are sepnding all that money getting your PR to start with do they? We thought our PR was for life and we could come and go as we pleased

Hi there, I am in the same situation trying to release my super and feel like I am going round and round in circles! I am a permanent resident and will be returning to UK in a few months for good. I need to release super to pay off debts here in Oz before leaving the country.

I am told that you can only access super if you were a temporary resident. Does anyone know how you can access it if you are permanent? I am told there under no circumstances can this be done but then I hear of people doing it once they are back in UK. Do you have to cancel your PR visa as proof that you don't plan on returning?

Also my main super fund which holds 15k say that they do not release it at all, but 2nd super fund will!?! Do different funds have their own rules?

Any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks guys

Hi Scoot

I think you are right - some funds will pay out and some won't. I know when I first started looking at super, I did check the small print very carefully to make sure I chose a company that would pay out if I decided to leave. Unfortunately some do just lock in your money permanently.

As to how you are able to claim it from those companies that will pay it, I think you have to have left the country. You would need to talk to them though as to what other requirements they have as each company does seem to have their own rules. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Best of luck