Molko1974

I have a private pension with Virgin but I am aged 42 and have been here for 12 years. Has anyone moved a private pension recently and can advise what to do?

deano27

Interested in any experience on this too. I can't work out why you would need to move it. Are there tax breaks etc?

spuddyo

One thing to consider is that if you have lived here for 12 years and the Virgin Pension has been sat in a UK fund growing steadily, the ATO will want to tax you on its growth since you moved to Australia. So for instance if your fund grew by $100k over that time, they will tax you on that $100k. They will carry out a special personal tax ruling taking into account exchange rate changes etc.

Reasons to move it depend on your own circumstances, what type of pension / superannuation plan is it, what happens to the funds when you die, how much control will you have over it etc. For us our private pensions were better off in Australia as it gave us more control over how it was invested, and more importantly we /our family were guaranteed the whole of balance on death. Left in the UK most of it would have gone to the Government and Insurance wolves leaving the surviving partner or family with nowt mate.

We moved ours via the QROPS system 2 years ago, it was all handled by AMP on our behalf. I am not sure even if that transfer route is still possible now.

Molko1974

I have 20,000 pounds in a private pension. I don't have a UK bank account and my address for the pension is my parents who aren't going to be around forever.

I know you could move it to an Australian pension but looking online they have stopped you from doing that.

I don't want to forget about it and it would be nice to have the money here.

Maybe I can withdraw it, and have my parents transfer the money as a gift? Not all at once. But can I withdraw it early?

Wish I had dealt with this years ago.

ozzieeagle

First I've heard of this...... Mine has been there since 1980 ! How can a pension in another country incur tax somewhere else ? I figured I would be paying tax (Or Having aus pension deducted ?) when the private pension comes in Monthly ?

spuddyo

Everyone situation is different, hence the personal tax rulingnbut he basics are to be found here :-

https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/i...n-super-funds/

bobbyftm

Yep came as a bit / lot of a shock to me too mate ! Currently waitng for info from my MPS as to what to do next. Certainly seems to be a waiting timebomb as to how to approach it !!

spuddyo

They tax you on the growth of your fund from the day you landed in Australia permanently to the day you transfer the balance to an Australian fund. I think there is an initial 2 year period in which you can transfer without being taxed though. They need evidence of balances from your UK super fund and then take into account exchange rates too. What they will let you do though is pay the tax owed from the fund transfer balance.

Beoz

Just curious. I have a small amount of pension in the UK. I have never really looked into as its small.

What are the bullet points here and what are the options?

In reality I really only need to use it when I retire and I have no idea which country I will be residing in at the time?

bobbyftm

In my case at 55 i will be accessing the funds rather than transfer the pension to oz. Becomes rather nore complicated doing this it seems and probably less benificial to myself of course

ozzieeagle

Mines a relatively small amount and will be paid monthly upon retirement, I've asked my brother if I can stick it in one of his accounts and use it as holiday cash when I go to the UK/Europe. So not sure where I go from here. Will ask my accountant I guess. Don't want to transfer it on a monthly basis as I'll lose about 10 pct in transaction and FX fees.

I dont care if the Aus government finds out and reduces my government pension by the usual 50 pct income deduction as I was prepared for and can slightly manipulate that....anything else is a bit rough though.

bobbyftm

I dont mind paying the taxes on whatever my monthly pension would be but the thought of paying tax on the lump sum here where it is tax free in Englans really pi$$e$ me off to the point where strange untoward things could happen

spuddyo

I don't think they will tax you on a lump sum ( I might be wrong ) but they will if you transfer it to an Australian Super fund.

bobbyftm

Well according to information just received from Mps in Uk there is no way at all they can provide any figures regarding growth of pension fund since I moved to Oz in 2007 and the present time so that should complicate things even more.Maybe I should just leave things til after my death and let the Mrs sort it,give her the headache !

Bix

If they can't give exact growth percentage figures from your given date maybe you can get by using a statement as the starting point Bob.

Depending when you became resident a 6 monthly or annual statement may suffice.

If you don't have your statements Mps should be able to provide a copy.