derham Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Hi Can anyone let me know what happens to your UK pension contributions when you move to Australia? :nah: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Hi Can anyone let me know what happens to your UK pension contributions when you move to Australia?:nah: Hi Derham Can you expand a bit on this, are you talking about the State Pension or Private Pensions that you have contributed too? Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derham Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Andy I was interested in learning what happens about the state pension, I have a few small personal pensions that I would just leave in the UK. I was trying to find out if I will still get the UK state pension when I reach 65 and will I still need to keep contributing if we move to Australia? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Andy I was interested in learning what happens about the state pension, I have a few small personal pensions that I would just leave in the UK. I was trying to find out if I will still get the UK state pension when I reach 65 and will I still need to keep contributing if we move to Australia? Regards To get full pension you have to pay into the scheme for 30 years, anything less and you are given a pension based on what you have paid in, So if you pay national insurance for 20 years you get a pension worth 2/3 of the full pension. if you pay for 15 years you get 1/2 of the full pension. You can arrange to continue paying into the Uk pension as a voluntary contribution and once you reach the 30 years contribution mark you would be on full pension and could stop paying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derham Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks for the info that's better news than I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyman Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 To get full pension you have to pay into the scheme for 30 years, anything less and you are given a pension based on what you have paid in, So if you pay national insurance for 20 years you get a pension worth 2/3 of the full pension. if you pay for 15 years you get 1/2 of the full pension. You can arrange to continue paying into the Uk pension as a voluntary contribution and once you reach the 30 years contribution mark you would be on full pension and could stop paying. Collin , i have been paying a pension for about 15/20 yrs in the uk , it took it out when i was 19 (worse thing i ever did ) its still over there what can i do to get it over here ......thanks pal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Nic are you talking about a private pension or the State pension, if its the state pension it has to stay where it is, if it is a private (Superannuation) then there are various companies who will help you move the money to an Australian fund, but beware of costs and charges, you may lose more in fees than it is worth moving to Australian, get a few quotes before you decide what to do. Also remember that if in a couple of years you decide that Australia is not the place for you and move tio UK, then it can be very hard if not impossible to get your pension back to the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyman Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks Col, it was a state pension..........Refuge ..........i just wish i had too 5 yrs endowments out , yr aftrer yr ,,,,,,what a fool i was ,,,at 20 my Dad told me to get into pensions , he did his endowments..the only bad word my Dad gave me ........:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hatton Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Andy I was interested in learning what happens about the state pension, I have a few small personal pensions that I would just leave in the UK. I was trying to find out if I will still get the UK state pension when I reach 65 and will I still need to keep contributing if we move to Australia? Regards Your pension is frozen at that rate the day you get your first payment in Oz which is very unfair and will probably change in the future as so many people are challenging this law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Your pension is frozen at that rate the day you get your first payment in Oz which is very unfair and will probably change in the future as so many people are challenging this law. It's clearly unfair but don't count on it changing. The state pension is paid out of current taxation (don't believe the myth perpetrated by the government that they save up your national insurance contributions to pay for it - NICS are just more income tax) and the government want (infact need) those pensions to be spent in the UK to raise more taxes (directly VAT but indirectly corporatiion tax and income taxes from the companies and people you buy from). Unfortunately if you've moved abroad your pension flows out of the system and is wasted (from the UK government and economy's perspective). Due to EU law they are forced to pay full pensions to anyone who has emigrated within the EU (even though very little of those pensions trickle back to the UK economy) but outside the EU they'll pay as little as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyman Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Nic are you talking about a private pension or the State pension, if its the state pension it has to stay where it is, if it is a private (Superannuation) then there are various companies who will help you move the money to an Australian fund, but beware of costs and charges, you may lose more in fees than it is worth moving to Australian, get a few quotes before you decide what to do. Also remember that if in a couple of years you decide that Australia is not the place for you and move tio UK, then it can be very hard if not impossible to get your pension back to the UK. sorry Colin it was a private pension.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AllieJ Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 So to clarify, sorry, just trying to sort this out myself and every company that 'offers' to sort it out for you charges a fortune, I don't have to do anything with my state pension, it just stays here but is frozen and when I get to 65 or whatever it will be (I'm only in my 40's now) I can apply for it from Australia, or do I have to let them know before I leave? And a small private frozen pension (when I briefly worked for a bank in my teens) isn't worth moving just keeping here and again taking it when I get to retirement age? Is that correct? Thanks AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eribow Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 I read somewhere that you get your U.K. state pension frozen from the day you set foot in Australia. I could be wrong & hope someone will tell me different. I understood it to mean that when I'm 67 I will get what ever my U.K. state pension was worth when I arrived in Australia at the age of 46. For the record, I am topping up my insurance contributions for 4 years. This would mean that I would have a full U.K. state pension if they change the rules. But, only at the rate it was when I left the U.K. aged 46. I would love to be wrong about this, so would be delighted to hear from someone who can tell me otherwise. Cheers, Erica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 When you claim your pension as the rules stand, it will be frozen at the value on the day you retire, not the day you left England, so when you reach 67 whatever the pension is on that date, that is what it will get. If you return to the UK after retirement then it will immediatly increase to the UK rate at the time you return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 OH has a private pension in the uk. We are in the process of getting the £ back he paid in over the last 15 yrs. We are using Windsor pensions. They charge 20% for transfers up to £25k. The % decreases with amount in pension. Check their website out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 OH has a private pension in the uk. We are in the process of getting the £ back he paid in over the last 15 yrs. We are using Windsor pensions. They charge 20% for transfers up to £25k. The % decreases with amount in pension. Check their website out. Woah woah woah, 20%!!!!!!! Sorry JK, can you clarify this for me, you are transferring your pension to Oz through Windsor and they are charging 5,000 GBP to transfer your fund as you have under 25k GBP? Thanks Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Woah woah woah, 20%!!!!!!! Sorry JK, can you clarify this for me, you are transferring your pension to Oz through Windsor and they are charging 5,000 GBP to transfer your fund as you have under 25k GBP? Thanks Andy They are charging 20% of the value of the fund. We figure a few thousand is better than it just sitting in a frozen pension fund. We are basically cashing in rather than transferring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 They are charging 20% of the value of the fund. We figure a few thousand is better than it just sitting in a frozen pension fund. We are basically cashing in rather than transferring. Thanks. Ok, so when you say cashing it in? Pensions generally cannot be cashed in unless there are certain conditions met, these conditions are known as triviality rules, see here http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/workplace-pension-schemes/final-salary-schemes/cashing-in-pensions-(triviality) To meet these conditions the fund value must be less than a certain amount and the person must be over a certain age. The only other circumstance I know of is if you have been a member of a final salary scheme for less then 2 years say NHS for example and the sheme allows a refund of contributions. I'm not sure how you can just cash in your Pension fund. If you meet eligibility to release your Pension under the rules of triviality then you would not need to pay a company to do this for you and should be able to administer this yourself quite easily or if you required help to complete the forms maybe 1-2 hours fee would be charged. Alternatively, are you aware that a transfer to Australia could be made for much less then the fee they are charging and when someone retires in Australia after the age of 60 they can access the entire fund 100% tax free? Sorry I do not mean to pry into your business but this fee they are charging seems to be rather excessive and I am also trying to understand under what basis you can access your UK Pension (other then above I did not believe it to be possible). Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (qorps). We have been assessed and we have ticked all the boxes so to speak. We are in early/mid thirties so waiting until retirement which would currently stand at 67 now I think for men. We could do with the money now. Pop it in a saving account and buy eventually. We are expecting our little windfall in the next month or so. To us the fee isn't that bad as we never knew we could do this. It isn't a scam as I have friends that have obtained pension money this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 That has surprised me, I thought the idea of QROPS was to transfer between UK and Australian funds, I did not realise you could take the money out and use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (qorps). We have been assessed and we have ticked all the boxes so to speak. We are in early/mid thirties so waiting until retirement which would currently stand at 67 now I think for men. We could do with the money now. Pop it in a saving account and buy eventually. We are expecting our little windfall in the next month or so. To us the fee isn't that bad as we never knew we could do this. It isn't a scam as I have friends that have obtained pension money this way. The idea behind QROPS is to transfer a UK Pension to the Country or residence that a person has moved from the UK to so as to be used for retirement purposes. Now some Countries pension regimes are different to the UK and may allow people to access retirement monies before retirement. Some countries have recently stopped being allowed to accept UK Pension transfers any longer because the UK government are not happy with that particular countries rulings, Hong Kong and Singapore to name a couple and New Zealand are under scrutiny currently. However the main thing to note is that if someone has been a UK tax resident within the last 5 years and accesses their retirement monies even if it has been transferred to a QROPS and it is outside of the UK rules ie before retirement age then this will be classed as an unauthorised payment and penalty charges of between 40%-55% will be made by the UK. JK, I take it you have been a non UK resident for more than 5 full tax years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 They transfer the money into a Swiss account then to our aussie account. Perhaps that is the way around it?!? We arrived in oz 6 months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 They transfer the money into a Swiss account then to our aussie account. Perhaps that is the way around it?!? This still would not avoid penalty if you have been a UK tax resident within the last 5 tax years. When did you leave the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew from Vista Financial Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 This still would not avoid penalty if you have been a UK tax resident within the last 5 tax years. When did you leave the UK? Hi JK So you arrived in Oz 6 months ago, does this mean that this is when you left the UK? If so then I feel you have been grossly mis-advised if they knew that your intention was to take the money out or indeed they had suggested it and not informed you of the breach that this could cause. See here; http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/faqs.htm This is from within the link: Q. What penalty/tax charge will be imposed for those taking withdrawals in the penalty period? A. If an unauthorised payment is made then that will give rise to a 40% unauthorised payments charge and, possibly, to a 15% unauthorised payments surcharge. If you are still within 5 tax years of being a non-UK resident then can you stop the transfer with your UK company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Six months ago we left the UK. Will do some researching. I wonder why people have been successful and not had any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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