jon&kate

Not sure if you can but oh had a pension plan with an employer which she paid into for 10 yrs.Can you cash in pensions or do you just have to leave them dormant if you no longer pay into them?

4Reids

Hi,

I have a pension with HSBC which originated from a previous employment. When I phoned them I was told I couldn't cash it in but could transfer it to another plan. So I'm going to wait til I'm settled in Oz and know its really for me, then I'll transfer it to an Oz one.

MikeSplicer

Only if you have been paying in less than 2 Yrs and then they deduct the employer contributions and tax your contributions, so not really worth it.

Either leave dormant (it should still be growing) or transfer (but check the costs of the transfer (sometimes make it un-worthwhile) My advice leave it, start a new one in Oz and spread the risk.

CaptainMerton

Can you just leave your pension in the UK after you've emigrated then collect it when you are at retirement age and have the pension paid into an oz bank account?

sammyg

i have a government pension and i will be transfering it to aus with me. I have 6 months from suspending in the uk to adding it to my new pension in aus.
I believe it's very rare to be able to cash them in early (although, wouldn't it be nice)

Sam

louie

You can certainly leave it in the UK. Whether the pension company will pay your pension into a Oz bank account I suspect depends on the company, but I think as it will be paid in sterling most will require a UK bank account and then it's up to you to transfer it to Oz.

BrisbaneBound2008

I heard something about having to transfer your pensions to an Oz one within 6months of moving there. My husbane has small-ish amount of £'s a fund he stopped paying into about 10years ago and although we can keep it in UK till we're sure we're going to stay in Oz, I'm sure the guy from one of those pension transfer companies (saw him at a migration evening at Commonwealth Bank) said there are additional tax implications with leaving it in the UK and possibly other reasons I can't remember! You can see I'm not 100% on this so any thoughts from anyone else on this would be really helpful! Its on my very long list of things to check out before next May!!!

TrickyTrev

My understanding is that if it is a 'money purchase' type plan (fund based) the tax concerns relate to the fact that the Ozzie taxman will treat it as an 'off-shore' investment and tax the growth in the investment accordingly. This is where employer 'final salary' schemes are treated differently (apparently) as they are not fund based but a promise from the employer to pay £X amount at retirement. There is therefore no fund growth to tax.

PLEASE do not take my word that all this is correct - consult a suitably qualified adviser. Alan Collett is a name that often crops up on this website.

Good luck to all.