UK Pensions

[Guest john 02]

Hi, I need help with this subject as I am getting confused. What do you do with your state pension when emigrating to Oz?

Does it get frozen when you leave?

How do you go about claiming it from the UK when you reach retirement age in Oz?

Also any advice on transferring my personal pension would be appreciated.

I have my visa now so am getting a bit panicky ! :?

 

Many thanks

John.

[Guest BullCreek_Bob]

G'day

 

You leave your state pension where it is and claim it at retirement age. It is probably worth your while looking at makig Class 2 or 3 contributions to maintain that pension. However, that is just a general opinion, not advice. You would need to look at your own situation with a suitably qualified accountant / financial advisor familiar with both UK and Aust tax and pensions law.

 

As for your personal pension, it might be best to ultimately transfer it into an Aussie Superannuation account, but there is no rush to do so. If you do not transfer it in the first 6 months of you becoming an Australian Resident for tax purposes, you could be liable to some tax on just the increase in value from that time on. Such taxes could be avoided if you transfer within the time fram but if you transfer it here then a year later you pack up and go back o the UK and transferr thing bang, you will loose a bucket load in fees. It makes sense to leave it there untill you've been here for long enough to know that migration is going to work for you and that you are not going to be one of the 10-15% of migrants that go back.

 

Yes, a very high number of people do go back for a wide variety of reasons, and probably all of them would have thought that they'd never go back. I suggest you give things time when you come here and don't make big financial decisions , ncluding buying houses and moving pensions, untill you've actually lived here a while and settled in.