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Superannuation


Victoriak

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I have recently moved back to the UK after completing a working holiday visa. I would now like to claim my super back. According to my payslips I should have about 6000 dollars but only have a balance of 1500 on my ATO super account.

 

One of my friends told me it's because alot of it is invested so you can't actually Claim the full amount.

 

Is this true? Can someone who has received their super after leaving Australia please help me out?

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Employers only have to pay Super to your Super fund quarterly (although some voluntarily pay more frequently). Any Super you earned in the last quarter (1st January to 31st March) doesn't have to be paid to your Super fund until 28th April so that may be the reason for part of the shortfall.

 

You also have 15% tax deducted from the contributions and the fund's administration fees.

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Yeah the 35 % is pretty brutal

 

Not really. It's comparable with the tax you would have paid on it if you'd have pocketed it when you earned it.

 

It's not actually 35% flat rate either, it has tiers which increase with the amount. For the average punter, it does work out at around 35% though.

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38% tax if not a resident for DASP!! Also anyone leaving Auss' or leaving an Aussie job in general should STOP their Superann' associated insurances immediately. We leaned this when my wife was in a job for 3 months then changed. It took another 6 months before she got around to transferring the 1st super account. By this time it was close to zero. Complaints to the company were useless but we did complain to the Auss' financial ombudsman and got all the money refunded. ( a main argument was that her new job supplied all the same benefits).

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Does the 35 % tax hit if you are still a resident in Aus?

 

No. You can only get your super back early if you once held a temp visa but have subsequently left the country.

 

If you're a permanent resident you pay 15% tax on contributions and growth but cannot access your super until retirement.

Once you're retired you can access your super and pay no tax at all.

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No. You can only get your super back early if you once held a temp visa but have subsequently left the country.

 

If you're a permanent resident you pay 15% tax on contributions and growth but cannot access your super until retirement.

Once you're retired you can access your super and pay no tax at all.

 

I reckon this will last another week. Budget day next week and they are trailing cutting back on the super concessions - have to raise some revenue from somewhere since the LNP has so cravenly caved in on the various housing investment giveaways

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What age can you retire at?

 

If I remember right, you're planning to head back to the UK to live and you're in your fifties. That means you can't withdraw your super yet, you'll have to wait till retirement and the earliest you can retire is 55. If you withdraw the lump sum at 55, the Australian govt will tax it. If you leave it till 60, you'll get it free of Australian tax.

 

Unfortunately by that time, you'll be resident in the UK, and if you take a lump sum you'll be taxed on it by the British government!! What you CAN do is convert it to a pension when you retire. If you do that, it won't be taxed by the Australian govt. You will have to declare it as part of your income on your British tax return, but by that time it will likely be your main income and you will get your tax-free threshold.

 

The thing to do now is take a good look at how your super is doing, whether you feel you've got it in the right fund with good returns and reasonable fees. Even though you won't be paying any more into it, a good fund should go on increasing in value for the next ten or so years, and will give you a retirement nest egg, which will be very handy as the British govt pension isn't as good as the Aussie one.

 

Also when you leave Australia, write to the super fund, give them your address in the UK and tell them to cancel all the insurances immediately. The insurances aren't valid if you're resident overseas anyway so no point in paying for them.

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You need to look into this more but if you already have Aussie PR then 1st 195k is tax free. It can be accessed at preservation age (I think this is presently 55). Its if on temp' visa that 38% tax kicks in, as contributions also taxed at 15% unsure if 38% is in top of this but would expect so.

 

As mentioned below - cancel all unnecessary payments such as insurances !

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You need to look into this more but if you already have Aussie PR then 1st 195k is tax free. It can be accessed at preservation age (I think this is presently 55). Its if on temp' visa that 38% tax kicks in, as contributions also taxed at 15% unsure if 38% is in top of this but would expect so.

 

As mentioned below - cancel all unnecessary payments such as insurances !

 

Thanks Steve,

 

I've got citizenship, so does that have any implications?

 

How much tax would be paid on money withdrawn as a lump sum after the 1st 195k (tax free) is taken out?

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How much tax would be paid on money withdrawn as a lump sum after the 1st 195k (tax free) is taken out?

 

17%. (Or your marginal rate should your marginal rate be lower than 17%).

 

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/In-detail/Withdrawing-and-paying-tax/Withdrawing-your-super-and-paying-tax/?anchor=How_tax_applies_to_your_super#If_your_age_is_between_your_preservation

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38% tax if not a resident for DASP!! Also anyone leaving Auss' or leaving an Aussie job in general should STOP their Superann' associated insurances immediately. We leaned this when my wife was in a job for 3 months then changed. It took another 6 months before she got around to transferring the 1st super account. By this time it was close to zero. Complaints to the company were useless but we did complain to the Auss' financial ombudsman and got all the money refunded. ( a main argument was that her new job supplied all the same benefits).

 

Since the Superann insurances are generally only for Australian residents you should stop them if you're leaving the country but there's no reason to do that if you're merely changing jobs. Just make sure you give your new employer your super details on the day you start not six months later.

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