Andrew from Vista Financial

Hello I believe this is the form you are referring to (APSS253): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-schemes-payments-in-respect-of-relevant-members-apss-253 That said I believe that only the first pension income payment is reportable and it does not have to be reported annually. Other types of payments such as lump sums and transfers to other QROPS/Non QROPS have to be reported as and when they occur of course within the reporting period. KR Andy

Hello Cressy I know which funds are on the ROPS list https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-qualifying-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-qrops/list-of-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-notifications#australia however this is not as simple as it seems as most of these are Self-Managed Super Funds with a few government schemes and one public offer scheme. The all important question Cressy is probably how old you are in the first instance as if you are under age 55 it is very unlikely you will be able to transfer a UK pension to Australia anyway. Regards Andy

Hi David Sounds to me like a low cost super with a multi-asset investment fund option might make sense in a situation like this (however see below re moving to UK). You will just need to make sure it is invested in a risk profile you are comfortable with but if you have a 25 year investment time horizon then typically a fairly assertive option would make sense (as you would if investing in a UK pension). With a low cost super fund there are typically two charges that apply. Firstly a member charge which will be around $100 annually (give or take), this is paid to the Trustees/Administrators of the Super Fund to cover their costs of running the scheme. This is an explicit fee meaning that you will physically see this coming from your balance of money (it will appear on your transaction history in a statement or when you view online). Secondly there will be an investment management fee, this is paid to the investment manager for making the investment decisions and managing the pot of funds in that particular investment, the management fee is known as the MER, management expense ratio. This is an implicit fee meaning that you will not physically see this fee coming out of the balance of your money and returns are declared net of this fee being deducted. I will give an example of this based on C-Bus as you have mentioned them (NAB have a number of super funds so not sure which one exactly you are referring to). Firstly the annual admin fee is $78, secondly the MER for their default investment option being the Growth fund (which is a multi-asset option which is fairly assertive) is 0.84%. The below gives details of their past performance to Feb 28 2017, note that the 0.84% has already been deducted. 1 month (%) Since 30 June (%) 1 year (%) 3 year p.a (%) 5 years p.a (%) 10 years p.a (%) Growth (Cbus MySuper) 0.90 7.42 12.53 8.46 10.66 6.02 Therefore in this case so long as the returns achieve more than $78 dollars a year and 0.84% per annum you monies will not go down (assuming no contributions are being made), looking historically at investment markets for an assertive investment option over the long term returns on average would be 7%-8%+. Now given your circumstance David a couple of points to note. Firstly, as you are Self-Employed it is not compulsory to make super contributions: https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Super-for-employers/Working-out-if-you-have-to-pay-super/The-self-employed/ Secondly, if you do then there will be no tax benefit to doing so unless you claim a tax deduction on the contribution and this may or may not be beneficial for you to do depending on what your taxable income will be for that financial year: https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/In-detail/Growing/Claiming-deductions-for-personal-super-contributions/ Thirdly given that you have said it is likely that you will be moving back to the UK in a few years perhaps consider making payments to a UK pension fund instead, you may be able to get tax relief on your contributions (up to a certain amount anyway) and that way when you move back you could just continue paying into that scheme. Hopefully my comments are food for thought David and please do take them as general comments only. Good luck.

Hello Again apologies for the delay. Regards your second question if someone is a permanent resident then typically pension income from the UK should be taxed in Australia with the UK paying it gross, however note that lump sums are treated differently to income from an Australian perspective. However you asked about a transfer to Australia and if it was easy....a transfer to Australia can be done for over 55s now but a fair bit of analysis will be required to see if it is right for you.....if it is only a small pot it could be just as beneficial leaving it in the UK depending on what you wish to do with it/when you wish to withdraw it and how. Also if transferring to an Australian QROPS new rules may or may not (again depending on your plans for taking benefits and amounts withdrawn) have an impact on you: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifying-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-charge-on-transfers/qualifying-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-charge-on-transfers Particularly: Payments out of funds transferred to a QROPS on or after 6 April 2017 will be subject to UK tax rules for five tax years after the date of transfer, regardless of where the individual is resident These announcement are still very fresh and there are areas that seem to be unclear in relation to the workings and finer points. Regards Andy

This looks like it will impact on Australian resident UK expats who might wish to transfer their UK pension to a QROPS that is not Australian domiciled. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifying-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-charge-on-transfers/qualifying-recognised-overseas-pension-schemes-charge-on-transfers

Hello Sorry for the delay, I'll reply tomorrow, I've got family over from the UK at the moment so have not been in the office much lately

I do not believe so as understand it is property specific unfortunately. Yes it is unfortunate as a temporary resident that this is now the case. We have always recommended Houspect to our clients: http://www.houspect.com.au/sa/

Hello Unfortunately so. Other points to be aware of particularly with auctions.........you cannot make it a conditional offer and so whilst you may have a pre-approval in place this is not guaranteed. For example the price you agree to buy it for is not necessarily the price the bank will agree (there isn't too much of this happening in Adelaide at the moment but it is still possible) therefore given as a temporary resident banks will typically lend up to 80% max the end loan to value may be higher and that means you would have to find the difference. ANZ will give pre-approvals with lots of subject to be evidenced, I'd make sure other than the property itself there are no other subject to's. Also you should consider a building inspection beforehand so you know what you are playing with. I always advised my clients to tread very carefully when considering buying at auction even more so if temporary residents. Regards Andy

The reason behind it is that the monies in your UK pension have received UK tax relief from HMRC SO they want to ensure that you use the pension for the purposes of retirement which is why the tax relief has been given. You could consider transferring to a non QROPS (theoretically it's possible how realistically your pension provider would not allow it to protect you) but in this case HMRC would tax you on the basis that they are taking back the tax relief they gave as the scheme you are transferring to may allow access before retirement (which in Australia's case is the issue and reason they essentially lost QROPS status). They are more than happy to allow a transfer if it goes to a scheme that does not offer access before retirement and that scheme is a QROPS without taxing you. P.S HMRC's reasoning not necessarily mine

Hi Johnny How old are you? It's not the UK tax man stopping it as such, he is willing to let it be transferred so long as the accepting scheme meets similar rules to the UK scheme particularly around age of access. In this case it's the Australian Superannuation rules stopping it. There are Australian over age 55 solutions available to the public and there are Australian under age 55 solutions available to certain government workers. I am also in the midst of looking at an all age solution for Australian residents which could be the missing piece although I am going through the due diligence process and seeking tax advice on the solution to ensure we are fully aware of all implications. I'll post as soon as I feel satisfied............watch this space. Regards Andy

Hello See here for Australian Age Pension eligibility: https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension (typically 10 years of permanent residence is required). See here for UK State Pension eligibility: https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension (typically at least 10 qualifying years are required to get anything and 35 years for maximum entitlement). With regard to private UK pensions and Australian superannuation funds, these can be taken at the relevant retirement age and it may be possible to transfer your UK pensions to Australia. Kind regards Andy

Hello Sandy and Barry. Transferring a Super Fund to a UK Pension Fund is not possible I'm afraid however in Australia the conditions of release of superannuation generally mean that once a person is age 65+ they can take up to 100% of their superannuation fund tax-free. https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/Accessing-your-super This being the case then it would be possible to withdraw 100% of the monies tax-free and then take it to the UK with you to then use/invest accordingly. There may be unique situations whereby the above strategy may not be possible more so due to older style superannuation products so I would advise you contact your super fund to explore your options. Hope this help, regards Andy

Reduction in Concessional Contribution (SalarySacrifice/Pre-Tax Contributions) Cap Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2017 The concessional contribution (CC) cap will reduce to $25,000 pa for all individuals regardless of age. The cap will be indexed in line with AWOTE in $2,500 increments. Individuals with sufficient surplus cash-flow could use the opportunity to maximise CCs for amounts made before 1July 2017 up to $35,000 for those who were 49 or over on 30 June 2016 and up to $30,000 for those under age 49. SMSF trustees should be mindful from1 July 2017 of unallocated reserves if any which may, when allocated, get counted towards the CC cap. Changes to Non Concessional Contribution (Post-tax Contributions) Cap Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2017 The non-concessional contribution (NCC) cap will reduce from $180,000 to $100,000 pa. Individuals cannot make NCCs if they have a total super balance of $1.6 million or more at 30 June of the previous financial year. Eligible individuals will be able to access a three year bring forward of up to $300,000. Transitional measures will apply to the bring-forward rule. ​Personal Deductible Contribution Changes Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2017 All individuals under the age of 75 will be eligible to make personal contributions for which they can claim a tax deduction up to the CC cap. Currently, individuals need to meet the 10% test (maximum earnings as an employee condition) to be eligible. This will enable people in a range of situations to make personal deduction contributions and potentially target the CC cap where that is currently not possible. Key examples include people who: are employed and receive SG contributions that are within the CC cap, but their employer doesn’t offer salary sacrifice arrangements switch from being a self-employed contractor to an employee during the course of a year and fail the 10% test due to employment income, and are residents for tax purposes who are working overseas for a foreign employer and their employer can’t or won’t contribute to an Australian super fund. Catch-up Concessional Contributions Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2018 Individuals with super balances less than $500,000 will be able to access a higher annual cap and contribute their remaining unused CC cap on a rolling basis for a period of five years. Only unused amounts accrued from 1 July 2018 can be carried forward. This will enable individuals who take time out of work or work part-time to make catch-up contributions when they accumulate lumpy income or decide to go full-time. An opportunity exists for those who intend to sell a CGT asset in the future where they can accumulate the amount of unused CCs.They can then make a lump sum unused CC to offset the CGT liability on the sale of an asset by making a personal deductible contribution. Changes to TTR Income Streams Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2017 Earnings and gains from investments held in a Transition to Retirement (TTR) pension will no longer be exempt and will be taxed at 15%. This change will apply to existing and new TTR income streams irrespective of the commencement date. Individuals will also no longer be allowed to treat certain superannuation income stream payments as lump sums for tax purposes. This change will have a significant impact on individuals running a TTR aged less than 60. This is because they will also pay tax on income payments, thereby negating the tax benefit for certain income earners. However, the strategy may still be beneficial when used for its intended purpose (ie for individuals wishing to reduce employment hours while maintaining their cash-flow at current levels). CGT relief is available for super funds for capital gains realised on the transfer of assets from pension phase before 1 July 2017. Introducing transfer balance cap Status: Passed Effective: 1 July 2017 The total amount of super monies that can be transferred to pension phase will be capped at $1.6 million. The cap will be indexed in $100,000 increments in line with CPI. An apportionment approach will be used to determine how much cap space is available. Individuals in excess of the transfer balance cap on 1 July will need to either: transfer the excess amount to the accumulation phase, or withdraw the excess amount from their super fund. CGT relief will be provided to all complying super funds to adhere with the transfer balance cap rules. The CGT relief will enable funds to reset the cost base of assets reallocated from pension to accumulation phase before 1 July 2017 to comply with the transfer balance cap rules. Regards Andy Please note that the above information is general information only and should not be taken as financial advice.

Hello If it was an Australia investment platform then typically with investment funds gains earned when selling out of a fund need to be declared on an individuals tax return. KR Andy

Hello The Adviser will need to be authorised in Australia AND the Super Fund will need to allow an Adviser the ability to transact. Who is the Super Fund with? Andy