Has anyone now in Australia transferred their UK pensions? Was this done before or after arrival in Oz?

We have 2 pensions to transfer and aren't sure what to do with them - can we sort it out when we get there?

Any help gratefully received.

We too have this problem are wondering what to do with. What's stopping us leaving them in the UK in their existing funds to mature? Who knows where we'll be in 25 years time! but I'm sure there must be a tax implication.

I'm in the US, not Oz, but I don't think that there is any way to transfer the gross value of a pension out of the UK.

The whole point of a pension is that the contributions were tax deductible and if you take the funds overseas the taxman can no longer be sure that you'll not be able to draw on the funds before you retire. So, I don't think that it is possible to tranfer your pension out of the UK unless you are prepared to pay the tax penalty.

..... Or does somebody know otherwise?

You can transfer your UK pension fund to a complying Australian super fund, so long as the UK pension scheme trustees are satisfied that you have left the UK permanently.

Please email me or send a Private Message if you want a contact name for my colleagues who can assist and advise further (for a fee of course).

Best regards.

Be aware Tracey that you'll probably get excellent advice from financial experts out there..but some key points we've already picked up are :

1. Don't assume its always better to transfer your pension to Australia..that depends on many different issues, including :
- are you staying in Oz ?
- the type of pension(s) you have ?
2. Make sure YOU (not just the financial experts) understand the difference between your pension fund value, and its transfer value (the difference can sometime be huge !)
3. Under current legislation (unless anyone out there knows differently), there is a 6 month window of opportunity to get the pensions transferred from the moment you touch down, otherwise growth of the funds is subject to tax by the ATO as a foreign asset.

Basically, I'm not an expert, just someone who's had all the advice and already been in Melbourne (with my wife!) for 10 month as a temporary resident...and some of the stories we've heard from fellow migrants have been horrendous..watch out for those thumping transfer charges !!!

Cheers

Roscoe

PS (sorry Tracey, I forgot to add this to my previous post)

Get it all planned out BEFORE you go, if you leave it until you arrive, you'll probably miss the 6 month window..! For the record, we used Montfort International (based near Guildford)..they were Ok..although their advice was fairly costly..not as expensive as making a giant mistake on the Pensions however..!

Good Luck

Thanks for all your advice on this forum Alan. We are thinking of applying for a Retirement Visa (410) and are six years away from taking our pensions. It is said that our pensions should be sorted before leaving the UK but if we are not able to work more than 20 hours per week (more likely we will not work at all) what is the point in transferring them if we will not be adding to them in Oz?

Just one more question please is the 410 a multi-entry visa?

Hope you can help.

Jackie

Hello Jackie.

You must be in receipt of earned income in Australia to be able to transfer your pension into an Australian super fund. I understand from my financial planning colleagues that this need not be significant income, but you must be able to demonstrate to the ATO if required that you have this type of income.

The other issue with 410-visa holders is being able to satisfy the trustees of a UK pension fund that you have left the UK permanently - the 410 visa is of course a temporary visa that leaves open the question as to whether you will be returning to the UK at some point in a way that is perhaps less likely for permanent residency visa holders.

One of the main advantages of transferring a pension to Australia is the fact that you can usually access the entire capital sum on a tax free basis and/or derive an income from this capital sum on a free of tax basis. Compare this with the situation if you leave the fund in the UK => usually you can only access 25% of the fund value tax free while the remainder must be used to purchase an annuity which will be assessable in Australia if you are tax resident there when you are in receipt of the annuity.

This said, I would encourage you to take professional advice if you are looking at a pension transfer, as tax laws can (and often do) change quickly.

And the 410 visa is indeed a multiple entry visa, which is valid for 4 years from the date of grant, and has no Initial Entry Date (unlike most of the permanent residency visas).

Hope this helps.

so ignoring for a second the fund value and transfer value which I guess is down to the policy of the specific fund your in.

How are proffesional charges levied for transferring pensions and what is a good deal??

Anybody have a view??

thanks

James

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ross Davis
PS (sorry Tracey, I forgot to add this to my previous post)

For the record, we used Montfort International (based near Guildford)..they were Ok

hi Ross,

i have had a quote from montfort, and as you mention it seems very costly for what you get, i.e. they would have a 3 hour "chat" with us +we would make all the notes, they put nothing in writing, then if we actually want to do something(like move the money) then if they did it would cost even more. money for old rope me thinks.

perhaps a cheeky question but are there any bitesize pieces of info they gave you could pass on?

regards

For what it's worth I prepare formal reports for clients as to the tax issues arising when they move to Australia based on their specific circumstances.

This report is prepared with the intention of the client understanding the issues before they make an informed decision as to what to do with their pension funds, investments, let properties, business interests, etc.

Thereafter I defer to my financial planning colleagues who assist with pension transfers (as required), the investment of funds, etc., albeit for a separate fee.

My Australian CA colleague can also assist with ongoing tax planning and compliance issues, as required.

Best regards.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by marknclaire

its the murky world of profesional charges/fees/commisions that worries me and gets on my nerves. Everyone at least wants to feel they got a reasonable deal, and know they haven't paid over the odds.

Their seems no transparency, people worry alot about day to day banking charges in aus, but this has to be at least as important.

So if charges vary from on type of financial adivce to another, tax liability, investment advice, etc, then is there anywhere we can get a breakdown of charges for the particular types of financial advice/services likley to be involved in a move to Aus and benchmark them in some way?

Whilst the proffesionals might not be so keen I guess to answer this in a clear unambiguous way perhaps for obvious reasons, it would be great to know what charges people have incurred for these types of services and how did you know you got a good deal??



rgds




James

Yours is a reasonable question James, but the difficulty in asking the question of other migrants is that their situation may well be (and probably is) different to yours.

Indeed, the financial services legislation in Australia requires there to be a full disclosure of all fees and commissions before you make any commitments in appointing an advisor => shop around and ask for all fees to be disclosed to you before you make any decisions as to appointing anyone. And if you don't get a straight answer from a firm I'd avoid them.

I'll leave others to comment further ...

Best regards.

Thanks Alan, this has given us something to think about. It probably would be worth considering both of us working 20 hours a week, as well as putting ourselves in a position to transfer the pensions we would have the opportunity of getting to meet a few more people.

We propose to initially go out on a Retirement Visa and then as soon as our only child has been a Permanent Resident (he only collected his Permenant Residency Visa in June) we have in mind applying for a Contributory Parent Visa.

We have already had a meeting with financial consultants in Guildford who specialise in Australian tax laws but am afraid their costs are so exhorbitant that it has made it prohibitive to continue with them. We will now go down another route of finding out if our UK financial advisers can help. Failing this, do you offer pensions advice?

Thanks again for your help.

Jackie

Yes, I provide tax advice pertaining to pensions Jackie.

Best regards.