Steve_

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/nico/ni38.pdf

Your bank will have the R105 form. Some banks refuse to stop withholding UK income tax so at that point it's time to change banks.

Bear in mind obviously that UK bank interest you receive is subject to Canadian income taxes. You declare it on T1 Schedule 4 (and possibly T1135 if you have significant foreign assets).

2008orbust

tax on uk accounts

this is where the current a/c where they nearly all pay 0% comes in handy
if they cant cope with the form

good points steve

edwinslad

My story, something to chew on.
I was born in 1945. I worked in the UK from !960 - 1971, the required eleven years as it happens. I emigrated in 1971 and worked until I retired in 2000. I had a freedom 55 plan in mind but worked until I was 56. I considered paying into the Uk pension but decided against it, mainly because I was working for a company which had a really good pension plan, which I paid into every week.
So here's how it all worked out (annual pension income before tax)
My UK pension works out to $1,919.00 for 11 years
My Canada pension is $7,646.00 for 29 years
My Canada Old age security $6,202.00 for 29 years
My company pension is $47,000.00 for 28 years

If you get with a company that has a good pension plan, nurses, teachers, government, auto industry etc, then it may not be worth paying up your UK pension. It might be better to pay into an RRSP instead of a UK pension as well. (I don't know this)
The main thing, whether you are here or in the UK, is that you can't rely on government pensions alone.

edwinslad

One more thing to bear in mind,
My wife did not work much in the UK and her pension was 29p a week! Once I retired it was bumped up to 60% of my pension - $1,151.00 annually

joepublic

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I presume there's no way of transferring my NI pension contributions from the UK to the Canada Pension?

edwinslad

'Fraid not, Canada does not have any agreement with the UK regarding pensions. They'll take the tax though!

mjwalker007

Hi joepublic,

Unfortunately you cannot transfer the U.K 'state' pension to a Canadian RRSP.

You can only transfer NI Contributions if you were 'contracted out' with a personal pension or company scheme.

Basically if you 'contracted out' it means that a portion of your NI contributions that the govt would of looked after to provide you with the state second pension, previously known as SERPS, were diverted to your personal pension provider or company scheme to look after and provide you with the pension.

Therefore if you have a personal pension in the U.K or an occupational scheme, that is contracted out, you can transfer these to an RRSP in Canada.

joepublic

Thanks for the info mjwalker007, I appreciate it.

I have been contracted out for the last 22 yrs odd, due to my military pension. That will be in payment upon arrival in Canada so there's no possibility of transferring anything over. I guess for the sake of topping up my UK state pension to the tune of 7 to 8 extra years it might be worth a punt. Using rough figures it might give me an extra £23 a week more than I'd get now, if and when I reach the age of 67. It looks like I'll qualify to pay Class 2 contributions, which for 8 yrs will cost me less than what I'd get back in the first year of drawing my pension. Seems like a good investment to me (pending changes in the rules, another increase in the retirement age etc).