mission_australia

Hi All,

I am working in sydney on 457 visa. I have superannuation fund. What happens to super after I get my PR.

Any suggestion / thoughts.

Pollyana

If you stay in the same job, it stays in the same fund, unless you decide to move it to a different one.
If you change jobs you may have to change super funds. Visa is irrelevant.

mission_australia

Thanks ! Can I withdraw super fund once I get my PR ?

JAJ

No. It is stuck in Australia.

paddyo

No. The rules are that if you are on a 457 and return to your country of origin then you can claim for refund of paid super (minus tax), I think its 14 days after you leave but don't quote me on that.
If you transfer to PR from 457 then your Super just carries on going, its yours for life and stays in Australia.

Deancm

That's not quite right. If you are an Aussie PR/Citizen, have super and relocate overseas then you can claim your super. I think you have to be expatriate for a minimum of 6 months and prove you have an overseas address, although different policies have probably got different terms. Irrespective, if you move O/S they cannot prevent you from taking it.

comet555

Can you show proof of that?

I followed discussions on this before and I thought that was only possible after you've given up your PR. We now have citizenship and I'm pretty sure if we move back to Canada our super stays locked in here. I've read a fair amount of threads and followed the relevant links to legislation and i don't think you can take it with you while you have PR of citizenship.

I'd love to be proven wrong though.

LouiseR

Erm I'd check that if I was you. From the ATO Website...

"Can temporary residents who leave Australia access their super?
Yes, in the circumstances outlined below.

If you worked in Australia as a temporary resident, you may be eligible to claim your super money after leaving Australia if:

you visited on a temporary visa listed under the Migration Act 1958, (excluding subclasses 405 and 410) which is no longer in effect and
you left Australia after starting to be the holder of a visa.

Australian and New Zealand citizens, permanent residents of Australia or holders of retirement visas generally cannot claim their super in this way, because they have the option of retiring in Australia. However Australian and New Zealand citizen, and permanent Australian residents, are able to claim super money they earned while previously in Australia on a temporary visa if this money is now held by the Tax Office."

Also different "policies" wouldn't have different procedures for something like this. It would all follow Superannuation Legislation.

Deancm

Looks like the rules have changed. However, all you would have to do is renounce citizenship/residency to get access to it but that would mean you wouldn't be able to return to Australia to live permanently.

comet555

Yes, I assumed you could do that. But seeing as how we would never touch those funds until retirement it would be a silly thing to do.

If however someone wants the money and never plans on returning it would be an option.

LouiseR

That would be a no again I'm afraid. The ATO states early withdrawal for departing Australia is only available to temporary visa holders under the Migration Act 1958. Even you can cancel or renounce residency or Citizenship you still can't withdraw because it's only available to temporary or ex temporary residents.

comet555

Interesting... now that I didn't know.

LouiseR

Straight from ATO...

"Which visas make you eligible to apply for the payment?

You must have held a temporary visa under the Migration Act 1958 (except visas under subclasses 405 and 410) to be eligible to apply for the DASP."

No mention of permanent visas or citizenship

Edited to add -

As a permanent visa holder or citizen if you leave the country you can still draw on your super when you retire as you would if you were living in Austalia but you can't withdraw early, if you see what I mean!

comet555

Yes, this part I had figured out from before. Which for us is totally fine and it makes sense. We have no reason to draw it out early so it'll just have to sit here for the next 30+ years until we retire!

What I'm not sure about is when the time comes to take out the money is that taxed from Australia? My husband will only have about 3 and half years super in there anyway so it can stay as long as it needs to. I'm just wondering about the tax implications when we go to take it out, possibly in a lump sum?

Deancm

However, if you renounce your citizenship and residency then you would no longer be a resident or citizen of Australia. In effect you would have been on a temporary visa for all intensive purposes.

The legislation doesn't actually take into account people that renounce citizenship (probably because Australia doesn't think anybody would actually do it). Once a person does that then Australia's tax laws no longer apply to that person and they would have to be treated as if they were on a temp visa.