Getting at UK Pension fund?
Oct 25th 2007, 9:57 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 68
Getting at UK Pension fund?
Have many people had any success in transferring their pensions out of the UK?
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
Oct 26th 2007, 3:40 pm
#3
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,754
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Have many people had any success in transferring their pensions out of the UK?
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
forget about it. Its best to leave it where it is. If you want to take advantage of the strong pound can you invest the pension it in US denominated investments.
I have a US 401k plan, but I'm planning to move back to the UK so fo a few years I've had most of it invested in UK and European based mutual funds to insulate me from currency fluctuations.
Oct 26th 2007, 4:48 pm
#4
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Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Have you discovered the cost of doing this yet?
Exit fees for old scheme and new? Might be a dealbreaker and be better to leave them invested in the UK?
(I have no idea just what I assume will happen - same if you wanted to transfer between schemes within the UK)
I have a couple of pensions that I will leave paid up and when they start paying out (ha - i'll be minted - NOT!) will leave them to credit a UK account.
If I'm still in the US I can then do the occasional transfer of funds.
If I'm really really really lucky and I don't need to rely on them for support then I have some travel money accruing for visits home.
Exit fees for old scheme and new? Might be a dealbreaker and be better to leave them invested in the UK?
(I have no idea just what I assume will happen - same if you wanted to transfer between schemes within the UK)
I have a couple of pensions that I will leave paid up and when they start paying out (ha - i'll be minted - NOT!) will leave them to credit a UK account.
If I'm still in the US I can then do the occasional transfer of funds.
If I'm really really really lucky and I don't need to rely on them for support then I have some travel money accruing for visits home.
Oct 27th 2007, 7:05 am
#5
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Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
I certainly wouldnt think leaving the pension in the UK is a good idea, after all the well known knowledge of pension shortfalls and the forever increasing tax burdens.
This is a long term investment that you'll be leaving in a very volatile market.
Even when a plan becomes paid up you'll still be paying fund management fees and entrusting your investment to a complete stranger who would be totally unaccountable for any mistakes.
This is a long term investment that you'll be leaving in a very volatile market.
Even when a plan becomes paid up you'll still be paying fund management fees and entrusting your investment to a complete stranger who would be totally unaccountable for any mistakes.
Oct 27th 2007, 8:24 pm
#6
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 22
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Have many people had any success in transferring their pensions out of the UK?
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
The ideal solution I would like is to take my lump sum and place it in some form of US investment plan. This is probably impossible though. From my brief research, also speaking with the Inland Revenue, something has to be ok'd with the IR before funds will be transferred overseas and then still after all this, the US side may still refuse to accept the payment. It seems very hit and miss.
Anyone else have any good ideas? Its only a small fund I'm talking about, ie < £50k, but x2 with the exchange rate I obviously want this is dollars instead.
Thanks in advance.
Darren
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds.
Last edited by Bob; Oct 30th 2007 at 12:13 am.
Oct 28th 2007, 3:10 pm
#7
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Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Hi
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds
To be honest, this does sound a bit dodgy to me. Anyone else think the same?
Last edited by Bob; Oct 30th 2007 at 12:12 am.
Oct 28th 2007, 3:24 pm
#8
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 68,280
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
I assume when you say that you were "able to access the funds" that once you transferred them to this offshore account you then took the money out? Did you end up having to pay an exorbitant amount of penalties and taxes to the US in order to take these funds out?
To be honest, this does sound a bit dodgy to me. Anyone else think the same?
To be honest, this does sound a bit dodgy to me. Anyone else think the same?
Oct 29th 2007, 3:21 pm
#9
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,754
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
I certainly wouldnt think leaving the pension in the UK is a good idea, after all the well known knowledge of pension shortfalls and the forever increasing tax burdens.
This is a long term investment that you'll be leaving in a very volatile market.
Even when a plan becomes paid up you'll still be paying fund management fees and entrusting your investment to a complete stranger who would be totally unaccountable for any mistakes.
This is a long term investment that you'll be leaving in a very volatile market.
Even when a plan becomes paid up you'll still be paying fund management fees and entrusting your investment to a complete stranger who would be totally unaccountable for any mistakes.
Oct 29th 2007, 3:28 pm
#10
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,754
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Hi
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds.
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds.
Last edited by Bob; Oct 30th 2007 at 12:12 am.
Oct 29th 2007, 3:51 pm
#11
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,754
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Well I'll be damned, looks like there is a way to transfer a UK pension to the US. Do a QROP transfer. I'd call one of the Qualified companies and see what they say. They include Fidelity and Pershing (Vanguard) and I'd recommend using them as they'll give you access to lots of low cost (0.2% fee) mutual funds
I tried moving my frozen U.K. pensions to my IRA in the U.S. but the transfers were not allowed by the U.K. pension companies. Eventually I found an offshore company with an office in London. I successfully did three QROPS transfers in June 2007 and was able to access the funds.
Last edited by Bob; Oct 30th 2007 at 12:13 am.
Oct 29th 2007, 7:01 pm
#12
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Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
On further investigation it looks like the IRS might have issues with this sort of thing. Its ok as far as HMRC is concerned, but I don't know about the IRS. Many of the US schemes that are QROP seem to be individual company 401k plans which makes me think its some tax "dodge" for highly compensated execs.It can't hurt to call Fidelity though.
I'd be interested to know how the IRS treated the funds you accessed and whether there were any penalty fees.
I'd be interested to know how the IRS treated the funds you accessed and whether there were any penalty fees.
Wonder how the US would approach this as well, if a persion did cash this out? I don't think the US should get there slimey little hands on any of this money cuz the money was never earned in the US, but I'm sure there is some obscure section of the tax code giving them access.
Oct 29th 2007, 7:53 pm
#13
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Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
yeah, I just came across the list of acceptable QROPS here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/PENSIONSCHEMES/qrops.pdf and saw Fidelity listed. I soo wish we would have known about this 3 months ago. My UKC hubby cashed out a 401k with his former employer and it was thru Fidelity. Makes me wonder if we could have cashed out the UK pension funds as well if we had already transferred those into his acct? Guess we won't find out now.
Oct 29th 2007, 10:06 pm
#14
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
BE rule #729
When anyone posts a question about pensions, a new member with nothing else to say will reply with a "just e-mail me and I'll see you right". Weird!
When anyone posts a question about pensions, a new member with nothing else to say will reply with a "just e-mail me and I'll see you right". Weird!
Oct 29th 2007, 10:22 pm
#15
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Posts: 68
Re: Getting at UK Pension fund?
Don't you just wish people would spread the word for free?
Darren
Darren