British Age Pension
 

Hello everyone,
I wonder if anyone can help. I have lived in Australia since 1984 and will qualify for the old age pension in ten years. I also have the opportunity to contribute National Insurance payments to qualify for a full (if frozen) British State Pension. Can anyone tell me if this is worth doing, in regards to tax problems, losing the Australian pension and so on? I would appreciate any help or advice.
Regards,
Phil

Re: British Age Pension
 

My advice would be to ask the ATO, as they are in the best to answer your question. www.ato.gov.au

Re: British Age Pension
 

You have to pay tax on income regardless, I would have thought.

The Australian age pension is means-tested - contact Centrelink. The Australia/UK social security agreement was terminated in 2001 but may still cover you if you migrated to Australia before then.

Re: British Age Pension
 

Try looking at this link http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/

You can pay class 2 voluntary contributions and the number of contribution years has been reduced to 30 but the retirement age has been increased. you should be able to find all the info you need and ask for a pension prediction from the above site.

Gillian

Re: British Age Pension
 

I don't think they are doing pension forecasts at the moment unless you are within a couple of years of retirement.

I don't think anyone can really give advice on this with any degree of certainty because the rules may well have changed yet again in another 10 years time. I wish I knew the answer too!

Re: British Age Pension
 

I think you can only make catch-up payments for the last 6 years.

Re: British Age Pension
 

Also as mentioned any UK contribution would be offset agains ozzie pension so you probably wouldnt be any better off. No expert though.

Jo

Re: British Age Pension
 

Wouldn't that depend upon whether the OP got an Oz pension in any case? If it's means tested, he may not qualify anyway, in which case the UK pension would be extra income.

Re: British Age Pension
 

His initial post indicates that he will get the Australian pension and he is quering wether or not he would lose it.

Its better to keep the Oz one cause the benefits you get from having it even if its only $1, my old neighbour says that they stay slightly below the threshold on purpose to get the benefits that go with it.

Jo

Re: British Age Pension
 

They can give you a forecast on the payments that have been made only. I think there has been a hold on predictions due to the fact that the number of qualifying years was changed only last June/July.

We have had about 4 predictions at various times. They will then tell you what you would need to pay to receive a full pension. If you originally paid into SERPS that is additional on top of your pension.

Re: British Age Pension
 

That's private/personal pensions.

Re: British Age Pension
 

No.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/class3.htm#short

Also - a lot now depends on when you reach retirement age (before or after April 2010) so make sure you read the right rules.

Re: British Age Pension
 

Whoops, must learn to read :(

Re: British Age Pension
 

No, that rule (which was that you could pay a % of your greatest income in the last 6 years) changed wef 6 April 2006. You can now pay UK pension contributions up to the lower of your UK earned income and (for 2007/08) £225k each year.

Re: British Age Pension
 

Worth joining British Australian Pensioner Association. Go to:

http://www.britishpensions.org.au/

Very knowledgeable and helpful, and working in consortium with groups in Canada and South Africa to change this anomaly for pensioners in (mostly) Commonwealth countries.