New here and need help
 

I moved back to the UK from the US last year. I have 23 years paid in to the social security, and 10 years paid in to the UK. How do I get my US social security over to the UK and will I pay taxes on the US pension? I do not have any other pension. I have been on the site reading and I am very confused. What is WEP and how do you go about paying income tax in the US if you are living in the UK? I will reach retirement age in a few years and need to find out all I can. Please could somebody help me navigate through this...Thank you

Re: New here and need help
 

Briefly, for starters,

You apply for USSS and tell them you are overseas, give them your UK bank account number and they send the monthly payment already converted to UK £ at that days official exchange rate.
There is currently a USSS office in US Embasy in London.
https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen...eral-benefits/

Tax wont be deducted from the SS payment the US makes, the US/ UK Dual Tax agreement ensures that you must declare that Social Security income for potential taxation in your country of residence.

WEP is a potential reduction in your SS pension payments at source when you have other pension income upon which you did not pay USSS tax when you earned it. This would be your UK social pension. You must declare such pensions if you are in receipt when you apply for USSS or on later occsdion when they do start.
https://www.ssa.gov/international/wep_intro.html

If you have to pay tax to US there are various ways it can be done online from UK. Don't worry about that, they make sure you have no excuse for not being able to pay.

I sent you a privare message

John

Re: New here and need help
 

You may be eligible to pay in for additional years towards your UK state pension. You will need to speak to the DWP to be sure. If you were still in the US you were probably eligible for Class 2 NI contributions, but that may not be the case with you being back in the UK, but you should push for Class 2 if possible as they are dirt cheap. The maximum contributions in arrears would be six years, plus current year, so seven years total, and the total cost is almost exactly £1,000 if they allow you to contribute at the Class 2 rate. The alternative would be the Class 3 rate at nearly five times as much.

Re: New here and need help
 

Thank you for the info... I called them today and they are sending me a forecast then I have to call them back and they will talk to me. I also called NI and they gave me the last 10 years break down. It is a lot of money and I am not sure if I should pay them in or not any suggestions on that. If I do it will give me 20 years. I have until April to pay them in so I have a couple of months to stress about it. This country is not the country I left.. It has been very daunting trying to navigate and get information and relearn the system which seems to keep changing.

Re: New here and need help
 

If you can pay into NI at the Class 3 rate it's probably a good deal. Also as these would be voluntary contributions they would not increase the WEP amount on your SS. Compare the amounts of UK pension with and without the extra 10 years of contributions and do a present value calculation to see if its a good deal.