Currumbin Keith

I was there for 8 weeks last year so I just asked them for a backdated pension upgrade if I provided proof of my flight dates .... here's what they say "You can apply for an increased rate of benefit whenever you are in the United Kingdom (UK)/European Union (EU). We will need to know: • Your full name and home telephone number • The date you are arriving and the date you are leaving • Your nationality • An address and telephone number where you will be staying during your visit. We cannot take this information any earlier than 4 weeks before you arrive in the UK/EU. You must tell us about your visit within 28 days of your arrival in the UK if you do not do so before your arrival. You can call us on 44 191 218 7777 option 4 between the hours of 8am and 7:30pm Monday - Friday (UK time) or you can write to us at: The Pension Service 11 Mail Handling Site A Wolverhampton WV98 1LW United Kingdom WE CANNOT ACCEPT THIS INFORMATION VIA EMAIL - Yours Sincerely Cheryl"

UPP update - I posted off the ATO form on 3rd Dec 2018. Today they called to to be sure I wasn't muddling my UK State Pension with my Occ Pension - apparently it is a very complex calculation ... I believe them ! Then they gave me a UPP deductible amount of £153 [ $253.44 ] for the 2017-18 financial year. And they said if there is no variation, the ruling can apply for future years. This UPP is quite a small percentage of my Occupational Pension - far less than the 8% on UK State Pensions, but its better than nothing and was achieved with relatively little effort.

Somewhat to my surprise, the scheme administrators have almost immediately supplied the information I requested. So I will send in the form and try my luck with the ATO for a UPP deduction on my new UK Occ Pension. BTW, apparently the exact amount of personal contributions I made to this pension fund 1975--1987 was £4,540.22 - who could ever remember that sort of detail ?

Hi Mike - did you ever have any luck with your UPP covering letter gambit to the ATO ? I'd like to try for a UPP deduction on my new UK Occ Pension - but judging by their recent performance, I'm not optimistic about getting any useful info from the scheme administrators. Kind regards - Keith Bannerman, Currumbin Valley, Gold Coast, Queensland

Thanks for that info Andy. I've used all my super contributions for the financial year. Fortunately it looks like the tax offsets from HMRC will virtually cancel out the Australian income tax liability. Kind Regards Keith

In the light of all this Common Reporting Standard stuff, I've decided I'd better be super honest and declare a UK Pension fund full pot lump here - even though much of it got hit for 40% tax by HMRC. I can see that the component earned prior to becoming an Australian resident is tax free, so I think I should just need to declare the element that has accrued since that point. Then I think I should work out pro rata how much of the UK tax was levied on the Australian residency element and claim that amount as an income tax offset ( deduction ) on the Australian tax return. Does this logic make sense ? All Forum Reader thoughts would be appreciated ! Thanks