DanandJanna

Hi All, does anyone living in the UK have experience of reclaiming super having been an Australian citizen?

My wife, son and I all got our citizenship while in Oz and have since moved back to the UK. My wife and I would like to hand in (or whatever the correct term is) our citizenship and reclaim our super. We've read up a bit and it seems tax on the refund is broken up into 0, 38% and 47% (ouch) but not sure exactly how this is worked out. Any information about this and any other part of the process would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bermudashorts

It isn't possible. Doesn't matter whether you hand your citizenship back or not. You will not be accessing those funds until retirement.

DanandJanna

I know its possible as we have friends who were given their super due to being in financial hardship in the UK. You can also get it back if you are seriously ill, disabled or dead (not much use then). Applying to the ATO and tax commissioner is the way to do it but it'd be good to hear from anyone who actually has experience of this.

BritInParis

You can cancel your temporary visa using Form 1194 in order to claim your superannuation early when you leave Australia although I've never heard of anyone being able to do so by renouncing their Australian citizenship.

Scotty1

Think you are linking two different things. Never heard of being able to access super early by relinquishing citizenship. You may be thinking about some temporary visa holders (ie Not permanent residents) being able to access super when they return to their original country?

There is provision to access super early in certain limited circumstances in Oz. This also applies to foreign residents. This is different from the UK rules. You may well have tax issues in the UK as well as Oz. I would suggest some specialist advice. Try Alan Collett - of Go Matilda is up to date in this area

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/cus...superannuation

Bermudashorts

And I have a citizen friend still living in Australia who has withdrawn money from super due to financial hardship. If you have financial hardship then I am sure you can also apply to withdraw money, you didn't mention this or that you are disabled or dead in your first post.

Anyway, if you are one of those things, you don't need to relinquish your citizenship to make the claim. And conversely relinquishing citizenship isn't going to enable you to withdraw super by itself.

Pollyana

Leaving aside the disabled/death situaion, over the years BE has had many perm residents ask if they can withdraw all their super on moving back home. Many forms have been suggested,, along with surrendering their visas, and they have all been referred to the ATO.

No one has yet come back and reported success in withdrawing it.

If you are successful, OP, whch I think is unlikely, please report back as to how you managed it!

BritInParis

Unless anyone can provide anecdotal evidence to the contrary I would suggest you are likely to give up your citizenship to no advantage. Think of your grandchildren and wait till your retirement.

BJKLiffey

Hi There, sadly you have to wait until your retirement age. You also cannot merge into a UK fund. I would suggest you go to the ATO website.
A temp resident can claim their super back but not a perm resident.

Fardell

Interesting situation, early access to super is generally only available a Departing Australia Superannuation payment (DASP) to certain temporary residents - and the tax rate is 38%; and can be higher at 47% for untaxed super funds (e.g. Government).

The principle is that these payments are not available "if you are an Australian Citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident, a New Zealand Citizen or for some other reason have an option of retiring in Australia and have access to the age pension." See:

Issues to consider for Australians retiring Overseas

https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/departi...-instructions/

I suppose you could argue access on this basis once you gave up citizenship, but you would need to look at the legislation and I have a feeling that you would end up "tired and unsuccessful" as per the comments above and paying an incredibly high tax rate ...if successful! You also restrict your family options later in life

It seems simply better for you to maintain the funds in OZ in a cost effective fund and make sure you have more exposure to UK/European funds than you would typically find in an australian balanced fund so you have less forex exposure.

Tr1boy

I thought I could remember one instance amongst the dozens that have tried but I can't remember their specific circumstances. I readily admit I could be 'misremembering'

Pollyana

There was one who reckoned she had managed it, years ago, name escapes me, but in spite of frequent requests she never backed up her claim to say the money came through, or how she did it.

Tr1boy

Ah I see, I didn't realise that she didn't back it up. For some reason the name 'Tracey' rings a bell.

Anyway, basically as others have said, it's pretty much impossible.

NickyC

I remember that discussion, too.

I always suspected that the supposedly successful plan involved setting up a SMSF and moving all the super to it, thus having access to the cash. Then taking all the money and running off with it.

All of which is highly illegal, of course, leaves oneself open to criminal charges and has implications for the other trustees. Also needs quite a bit of advance planning and that costs time and money - it's definitely not something that can be done from overseas.

And it explains why that poster never came back to spell out the details.. ;-)