I too have been trying to find out the answer to whether I will have to pay tax on my superannuation or subsequent pension from super when I move back to England. I think that the Australian-UK double tax agreement (See Articles 4 and 17) and info on the UK tax office site might help. The Double Tax Agreement seems to say that tax on pensions and annuities is only payable in the country you are deemed to be resident in. The UK tax office website says that tax is payable on foreign income in the same way as UK income, but that for Foreign Pensions tax only has to be paid on 90% of foreign pension income. However it is not clear to me if this still allows for the UK personal allowance, that is, if 90% of one’s Australian pension is at or under the allowance would the money still effectively be tax free. The allowance (the amount of income you can earn tax free) is £11,000 p.a. for UK tax year 2015/16.
I would advise getting advice from a tax specialist to account for your own individual circumstances, especially around how lump sums will be treated, and if you have shares and property. Also depending on your circumstances being deemed UK resident may not be straightforward for everyone., and an unexpected 32c in the S1 tax bill will be quite a stinger. However, having knowledge of this info may help with questions that you want to pose.
The links below may be helpful.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/foreign-income-thats-taxed-differently'>https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/foreign-income-thats-taxed-differently
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/2003/22.html
https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income
