onlyme

Hi Folks,

I know this one has been asked before, but I can't find the answer when doing a search :

If I leave Australia for good, will I get my superannuation back in full ? and if this is the case, how do I go about doing it ?

Thanks,
Dave.

HazelG

mmm - I'd like to know the answer to this too???
Anybody???

Jaykay

I had Superannuation when I was working in Oz. Have lived in UK for 10 years now and even though I'm no longer putting any money into it, it's still increasing in value (very slowly mind you) year by year, although the downside is that I can't get my hands on the money until I'm 60 years old!

PS: I'm an Australian Citizen so not sure if this makes a difference.

onlyme

I thought the rules had changed recently ie. if you leave Oz for good and never comeback, you can get all your super back ? Anyone know for sure ?

Alan Collett

Only if you have been in Australia on a temporary visa - more info here:
http://www.ato.gov.au/content.asp?do...uper/21502.htm

Best regards.

Herman

Good link Alan, very timely for me as I was just pondering this very question this morning. So 30% tax on the withdrawal, hmmm. One other question Alan - does this withdrawal become part of your assessable UK income? If so, then as a higher rate payer I presume a further 10% tax will be payable to the UK authorities once double taxation relief has been claimed?

Alan, not sure if you have experience of this, but my balance falls into the more than $5,000 category and my employment contract here finishes on 18 April, at which point we return to the UK. However, for some unknown reason my firm got us visas to the end of September 2003. Do you reckon I can get at the super funds before October 03? Is there a way I can request that my visa be cancelled when we leave in April so that DIMA will issue the letter I require for accessing the super fund?

Thanks

Alan Collett

Herman,

Good questions, and the short answer is that without researching the issue of the assessability of the remittance in the UK I'm not sure. Suffice it to say that IF it the remittance is assessable I think it would be taxable under Schedule D Case VI - in case you want to research the matter in more detail.

As to visa cancellation, it would be in your employer's interests to ask for your visa to be cancelled so that their exposure under the sponsorship obligations cease - so I would be asking your HR people to initiate the visa cancellation process. A letter from you to the DIMIA will most likely only cause a letter to come out from the DIMIA to your employer, to which your employer will have to reply, all of which will add to the time taken to obtain the letter you are after to release your super fund => best for HR to simply send the letter in the first place.

Hope this helps.

Herman

Thanks Alan. My research usually extends no further than emailing one of our tax department bods. I'll post the answer when I get it.

kittykatty

Hi there
Just got 3 cheques from 3 different funds
Very easy to do....go to the ATO site for more details....all depends on your visa you had when visiting OZ
Best is to contact the Super fund directly for they might require different forms! Took around 3 - 4 weeks to get my money back.
Cheers...hope this heps

onlyme

Thanks folks, extremely helpful as usual.