windsurfer uk

Hello every one!
Expecting medical request soon,was wondering did you leave your policies running in the UK after moving to OZ or did you surrender them.If you leave them running over in the UK will you be taxed by Oz once they have completed and you try to bring the money in?
Or is it best to say stuff it and start afresh and cash them in? Could do with saving the money I put into them each month and keep it in my account instead,can pay off my mortgage when I sell the hse with the equity in it.
General rule is never cash them in.
Anyone else had the same dilema?

Kindest regards,
Mark

Grayling

Mark
This area is a minefield and you need professional advice.
If you keep your endowments running you will be taxed each year on the annual growth not on the maturation. As they grow each year your tax bill will rise accordingly.
There has been a lot written on this so a search would be useful.
It really depends on their value and how long they have to run etc.
You must sort this out before you go

Good luck

G

Terry

Hi Mark,

Not sure what to do with endowments, but you do get taxed in Oz on the increase in value even though you have not recieved money from them. That is if the ATO tax returns are completed correctly.
You may also have an option to sell the policy.

Terry

Bix

Hi Mark,
As Grayling said it's worth searching for previous threads as we've dicussed it a few times.

I suspect cashing in will give the least return whilst selling the policy should yield more. Best return naturally is if they run their full course.

If you have had them only a short time it's probably worth biting the bullet and pulling out.

However if like me you only have a few years to maturity it is something needing serious consideration.

The latter years of these policies is usually when the bigger growth comes into play but that could be detrimental in OZ tax terms.

It might also be possible to freeze them but what are the benefits and tax implications then ?

Does the policy allow for cover if you are not UK resident ?

A lot of questions to ponder I know and I intend seeking some professional advice as I could lose a lot one way or the other.

Good luck.

hevs

We had two.
The newest one was failing badly, so we cashed it in, it payed for our shipping

The oldest one only has nine years left and is doing well. We have left the money in the UK to pay it off. Lets face it nine years is a long time, who nows where we'll be by then

renth

I cashed mine in. It was with Scottish Amicable and the surrender value was actually more than the market value.

I got about 6 grand.

debsy

We also cashed ours in as we could not be bothered with the hassle when we got to Aus. We had only had it for seven years anyway.

windsurfer uk

Thank you everyone for your advice,the less hassle factor seems to be a good one,might cash them but will take advice first.
Best regards ,
Mark

tinaj

You definitely need to get advice on this as each case will be different.

We spoke to a financial advisor and he recommended that we didn't keep ours, basically if you don't pay into them they charge you year on year for not doing so. Unless you only have a few years left and you can afford to keep paying it you may be better off cashing them in.

We thought ours would not be worth much, but were pleasantly surprised. One we only had for 4 years and we have just cashed in at over 7000 pounds! That is almost $18 000, so we are pleased.

We waited until we were out here before we decided whether to cash them in or not. I wanted to make sure that I had no intentions of returning, in the short term before we did this. You can still cash them in from over here, so it is not a problem. You write to them and ask them for a forecast of what the endowment is worth first.

Kiwipaul

When I move to NZ I turned my endowment policy into paid up so I didn't have to pay in any more. Each year the company sent me a statement of it's value (I can check it as it's listed on the stock exchange just like a share).

When I move to Oz I just informed the company of my new address and they still send me statements. Whist in NZ it more than doubled in value but soon after I arrive in Oz 7/11 happened and it crashed. This year if nothing happens it might creep above it's pre 7/11 value and I'll be cashing it in. As I've made no gain on it since being in Oz I've not been taxed on it. In fact I've not even had to declare it as it's still running at a loss.

snappy

I think like G has said get advice on it if you don't know what is best to do.

Personally I cashed ours in as I found that after getting a updated summary on the returns we would have had very little back even if the growth rate was at the highest (which is very unlikely). You do get several options as you can stop making payments for the rest of thr term of the policy or just cash them in with the policy company or sell them to a broker who will give you a better deal.

Best thing is to get professional advice if you are unsure though.

Sasha