Philosophical 11

I have come across a thread on a FB Group relating to income tax paid at source in the UK. Basically it seems to infer that if you are living in the Philippines and not a resident in the UK nor have any assets there, you can apply to have a NT (No Tax) code and therefore receive income free of tax at source. I suspect that if this is true, it would assume that not being resident in the UK you are a resident in the Philippines and therefore this would only apply to those who are on Permanent Visa. It also states that tax rebate can be claimed if the award is accepted. I am currently looking into this but maybe someone here knows more about it or indeed has claimed the NT Tax Code.

On a different note it has caught my eye that Malaysia will start to apply tax on all foreign income wef 1 Jan. I dont know if this includes personal income but they are cash strapped because of Covid 19 and hope the Philippines doesnt follow suit.

Gazza-d

You need to become a non- dom from the UK and have no assets there.As the Philippines has a reciprocal arrangement with the UK you arrange to have your state pension paid in the Philippines effectively by the Philippines government. As currently the tax rate on pensions is 0% you get your state pension tax free. Of course if you have any private pension paid only in the UK one assumes that counts as an asset. To get the best of both worlds you woukd move your state pension and use any tax free amount to offset any UK tax, not sure if that's possible........and would you trust the Philippines government to pay you pension regularly. Also occasionally the Philippines talks of dropping the reciprocal arrangement.

tropicofcancer

State Pension is still taxable in UK. Under the agreement. As are any Government funded pensions.
Private/Works Pension would be Non Taxable NT, and free of tax in Philippines.
Rental Income/Dividends and the like being UK based assets, are taxable in UK.
Pensions and all income from overseas, is not subject to tax, provided you are not a Filipino Citizen.
You must be classified as non resident in UK. Obtain a TIN from your local tax office. You will have to claim an exemption from Filipino Tax every year. Before April.

Philosophical 11

As I am now in the process of applying for SRRV, I thought I would resurrect this thread.

I have two pensions, a state pension and military pension.

I understand that the state pension is not taxable but counts toward taxable income, in my case my military pension.

I know I can apply for a NT tax code, but how would that apply to my military pension? Basically, I am looking to be paid tax free in the Philippines when I become a permanent resident. I believe different rules apply to private pensions of which I have one but really of little significance in value.

Regards

Bealinehx

"You need to become a non- dom from the UK and have no assets there.As the Philippines has a reciprocal arrangement with the UK you arrange to have your state pension paid in the Philippines effectively by the Philippines government."

This I do n ot understand. I have all my UK pensions paid directly into Philippine account. Why involve a third party?

Gazza-d

To avoid paying UK tax.

mikemike

so, if you are already a non dom for Uk tax purposes, no assets or bank accounts. Do you still need a a reciprocal arrangement with the Pilippines.?

Gazza-d

If you want to receive the annual increases then yes. Otherwise your pension will be fixed at the rate when you became a non dom. Many expats in Spain etc return to the UK after 10-15 years because their state pension hasn't increased in that time.

Feidlimid

I’ve often wondered what sort of increase to their state pension these expats get if and when they decide to return to UK. Is their pension then brought in line with those that never left the UK? I’m assuming it isn’t otherwise Expats could return every so often to reside in UK for a minimum period in order to raise their pension. So, do they only receive the next annual increment based on their pension when they return to UK?

mikemike

thank you for this it is very helpful

mikemike

from the australia board

''You can claim your UK state pension through this UK International Pension Centre link https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre
Your state pension can be paid into your UK bank account (if you have one), or directly into your Australian bank account.
Yes, the UK state pension counts as income for the Australian age pension income test.
Yes, your UK state pension will be frozen at the rate you get when you first claim it if you continue to live in Australia.
Not sure whether or not it's worth topping up your NI contributions, but others here will probably know.''

part in red , suggesting not at the point you left, but at point of claiming

Lynn R

As a Spanish resident I would just like to point out that UK state pensioners DO receive annual increases to their pensions, and this has continued after Brexit. My husband and I both received the 10.1% increase this April. This is true of all countries in the EU, and other countries with which the UK has reciprocal social security agreements.

mikemike

lyn was your pension accrual uprated when not in payment as i think the suggestion is the accrual rate is frozen on leaving the Uk and the index linking only starts when in receipt?[/QUOTE]

Lynn R

[/QUOTE]

We left the UK in 2006 when my husband was 57 and I was 50. Neither of us have worked since we came to Spain. We both had 35 years' of NI contributions paid, enough to be eligible for a full UK state pension (I thought I only had 33 but apparently years in full time education after 16 count, or they did, it may have changed since). He started to get his state pension at 65 and it was paid at the full basic pension rate which applied at the time (as he reached state retirement age before 2016 it was at the old rate) plus an extra amount because of the Graduated Pension/SERPS contributions he had paid.

I didn't reach state retirement age until 2022 and my pension was below the full amount of the "new" state pension as I had been contracted out, being in a final salary pension scheme for most of my working life. I was able to pay some years of additional voluntary class 3 NI contributions to reduce that shortfall. The difference was solely due to having been contracted out, nothing to do with not being resident in the UK.

But the accrual rate was the same, it is not affected by us having been out of the UK before we were able to claim our state pensions

This shows the list of countries in which UK state pensioners continue to receive annual increases:-

Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Going back to the original question, I have an NT tax code for my final salary pension from a former employer's scheme (not a Crown pension) and the full UK personal allowance to set against my Civil Service pension (although that is no where near the personal allowance). I had to get a certificate of fiscal residence from the Spanish tax office, once I had started to pay tax on my occupational pensions here, and submit it to HMRC before they would issue the NT tax code and refund the tax already paid on my non Crown pension. Since I started receiving my UK state pension that has been paid gross into my Spanish account (paid by the UK not the Spanish Government) without my NT tax code being affected, and I now declare the state pension on my Spanish tax return along with the other pension.

spouse of scouse

The advice in red related specifically to that poster, who will be submitting his UK state pension claim from his country of residence, Australia. There's no Social Security Agreement between the UK and Australia.