quiltman

your UK pension fund is tax free yes, until you come to release it. If you use the entire amount to buy an annuity , no problem, you just pay tax in the normal way either in UK or where you are tax resident -assuming your total income is above the £11000 tax free allowance for UK citizens if the DTT between the UK and your residence country allows. (Residing in certain countries means you do NOT get the tax free allowance) DT Digest - Digest_of_Double_Taxation_Treaties.pdf If you look up your country of residence it will tell you what is allowed.
you can , currently, take up to 25% of your fund UK tax free ( and use the balance to buy an annuity, as I did) but any cash sum taken above this 25% will be taxed at up to 40% as it gets classed as income for the relevant financial year. Many folk have been caught recently as the rules changed to allow you to access pension funds early, they cashed them in and got stung for a large tax bill! Plenty of examples in the financial sections.
How taking this lump sum will affect your OZ tax liability I cannot say - they may still want a cut!!

bobbyftm

I have some statements mate but apparently from what i can gather because it is a Final Salary Scheme "members do not have their own individual pension fund or pot of money from which their benefits are paid ,it is paid out of the overall investment fund and will continue to be paid until your death ". There's certainly no sign of any total funds in any of the statements i have unfortunately. I do have another one however which is also accessible where details have been sent with a "total fund " as this one was a defined contribution one in the days before i left Uk . Still as bloody confusing tho lol

Kiwipaul

I have a private company pension in the UK from the firm I worked at before emigrating in 1990. I left it in the UK and forgot about it for 25 years and only started drawing it 2 years ago.

They pay the money into my Oz bank account using a very good exchange rate and virtually no charges. I get approx $1,000 per month depending on the exchange rate (since Brexit less).
I had to inform the UK tax office I was in OZ and provide my Oz tax info and now it is sent tax free from UK.
I have to declare it in Oz and it is added to my other income and taxed appropriately. But as the tax free allowance is approx $32,000 for a retiree I don't pay any tax on it.

Fardell

If precise figures are difficult to get or impossible, as with a final salary pension, you can get an Actuary to make a calculation - costs a fee but the figures will not normally be disputed by the ATO. Actuarial calculations are beyond the ken of most mortal men.

A larger problem is that HMRC appear to have announced as part of the Budget that:

"... qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops) transfers for individuals not in the European Economic Area (EAA) will be hit with a 25% tax charge."

Budget 2017: HMRC introduces 25% tax charge on Qrops transfers - Citywire

So, having decided to leave the EU transfers within the EU are still given preferential treatment .. presume this is because of a pre-existing agreement which they cant touch.

On face value this is going to severely impact the attractiveness of many transfers.

durhamlad1960

Hi Bobby,

The calculation for the applicable fund earnings (growth on the pension) is quite complex as it depends on a number of factors such as the cash equivalent transfer value, how the fund has been indexed since leaving it such as RPI or CPI, and the exchange rate at the time of residency.

There are a number of benefits in moving a pension from the UK but also there are some negatives.

Fardell

There is more clarity now about the Overseas Transfer Charge - I don't think the article I quoted above is entirely correct and it appears that the charge will only apply if transfers are made to countries where the individual is not resident. A number of advisers have been suggesting transfers to Gibraltar, Malta, Hong Kong and New Zealand of late and this is HMRC's reaction. Still a very complicated environment - unauthorised payment charges, overseas transfer charges etc., More details below - grab a beer first.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...s_guidance.pdf

denzil73

I think I transferred my UK private pension more than 2 years after moving to Aus but then due to the visa type etc it was 4 or 5 years after arriving that I finally got permanent residency. So unless you were on some visa that took a long time to get perm residency then you'll be taxed on the transfer.
If you weren't making contributions to the pension then they should only tax you on the interest the pension accumulated since your date of perm residency in Aus. Hence it may not be as much as you think.
Yearly statements should be more then sufficient to calculate the tax as the interest for each year will be on the statement.

Personally, I have kept my UK bank account active as A) it's pretty handy when travelling. B) I'm probably gonna move back to the UK at some point and C) it makes transferring money around the world much easier.

As for foreign exchange I'm with XE and they have recently removed the $25 transfer fee. Transferwise have never charged fees but their rates aren't as good as XE or FX.
However, moving sums larger than $10k may send a flag in the banking system if going to an exchange broker. I don't trust the ATO not to give some kind of penalty tax for monies leaving the country but have never gone over the $10K to find out. Just saying as why should you be taxed on earnt monies that tax has already been paid on?