melon

I'm not clear, do you WANT to access the funds or are you happy to leave them there? If it's a decent amount, it might not be a bad idea to leave the funds there and let them accumulate, it's always good to have some money set aside for your retirement. You can do that even if you're a non-resident. The good thing is that it's a tax-free investment - something that's not easy to find in the UK, I believe.

Thanks Peach, the situation I was investigating is what if you lose PR and become non-resident, do the rules still apply and it appears they do

I'm not clear, do you WANT to access the funds or are you happy to leave them there? If it's a decent amount, it might not be a bad idea to leave the funds there and let them accumulate, it's always good to have some money set aside for your retirement. You can do that even if you're a non-resident. The good thing is that it's a tax-free investment - something that's not easy to find in the UK, I believe.

Good point, I agree with you that super is a good idea however I was investigating the possibility of moving it to a private pension in the UK rather than spending the cash now

My main concerns are accessing the money in 20 years time, and potential changes to Aussie government policy, both might make it tricky to get hold of it when I retire. Just looking at the worst case scenario..........

Thanks Chicken66, to be honest I'd not considered the tax implications. Pension/Super income is taxable in the UK anyway, so at least any of my income from Oz presumably would not then be taxed again once the ATO has taken it's cut....

I intend to retain RRV/PR status as long as possible but that may run out at some stage once I fail to meet the five year rule for renewal.....

ME Bank's online current account is also free with no minimum balance. Currently they cannot do foreign money transfers over the net so not recommended for that reason

I filed my return for 2013-4 in July (by post in the end) and recently received a rebate on the PAYG tax that I'd paid between June and Dec 2013. No problems at all. Be careful of being non-resident during part of the year as the ATO will assess any income including savings at 32% for that period with no tax-free threshold (this was discussed in a recent post here).

Or do what DavidCellist suggests?

So I moved my savings over to the UK when I left to avoid that...

I assume the Inland Revenue don't have any knowledge of your Aussie income and tax unless you tell them you had a part-year income from working there? Probably best to treat them separately!

I have a question that perhaps should be posted elsewhere (money and finance?) but I'll try here...

I moved back to the UK in March and I've not regretted it so far, had a great time

I do have a reasonable amount of Superannuation stored in an Aussie employer scheme (public sector fund)

I have been told several times that unless special circumstances apply I cannot access these funds until I am 65. It is possible the rules will change. THese apply to me as I hold PR at the moment, so I am treated as a resident even though I now live overseas

My question is, what happens if I lose my PR status completely? This could happen if I fail to renew my RRV (I will need one next time I travel back) for example and then travel in a few years on a tourist visa. I'll then have no status in Australia and presumably different rules can apply?

The Super fund are not that helpful, they just read the rules out to me

Cheers, Melon

Grantham is in Lincolnshire still and is very much East Midlands

The East Midlands beats the West hands down. Lincoln has the culture and touristic Roman sights, Skegness the beaches. The West has none of these ;-)

I've just moved back from Melbourne, I'd agree with the other posts though. Not sure if I'll go back in the future on a RRV or not...

I agree with the general feeling in this post that most Poms are returning from Perth, I don't think I would have stuck it out for nearly 7 years there, unless I had to for work.