my friends pension comes up in april, does she leave it in the uk or bring it over to spain. help.

They will pay it into whatever account you want.

If it is paid direct into a Spanish bank you get a very good exchange rate and they do not charge commission on the transaction.

Has she already claimed for it. You have to get a claim form some 4 months before it is due to start, otherwise, until you send in the claim it won't be paid. It's not something that you get automatically.

They should send you a claim form 4 months before you reach pension age.

If they don't you can download one at

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensions...sion/DG_183111

thanks, will she get taxed on her state pension

If she doesnt have any other income then she shouldnt, depending on the amount. My wife doesnt.

thanks for reply ,she also has a small private pension as well, will she pay tax on that

Its impossible to say, not knowing the figures involved.
All I can say is that as a resident here, her tax burden is here in Spain, and her income will have to be declared here. You need to register for zero tax in the UK.

I'm in the UK at the moment and dont have the link for Spanish tax allowances, maybe someone else could oblige

Depends on the pension and where it is from. Some government pensions MUST be taxed in the UK, but, no need to worry, if hers is one of those then the EU has a no double taxation law, so she will NOT have to pay tax on that again in Spain.

UK Government employee pensions (police officers NHS workers, military etc) are taxed at Source (as are such Spanish ones for Spaniards living outside Spain). Income from UK property is taxed in UK and if your UK bank/building Soc will not pay your interest gross then the UK taxman keeps part of the 20% which is stopped (its a 12% / 8% split can't remember which part is kept, but that part can be used to off set any tax liability in Spain)

Income from private pensions, OAP, off shore accounts etc are taxed in Spain. If you are lucky enough to have a government employee pension, when you make your tax return in Spain it is ignored and thus you get the full tax free allowance on your Spanish tax declaration, having also qualified for the tax free allowance in UK. It means that your OAP is all most certainly tax free.

Her personal allowance is about 6,700 GBP but that is off the top of my head. If her two pensions don´t amount to that much in a year she wont pay UK tax.

I don't know who you mean by 'her' but if she lives in Spain, except for government employee pensions she will HAVE TO DECLARE IN SPAIN not uk!

Is it possible for a married couple to make a joint declaration in Spain?

If it is, does the total amount of allowances add up to more than the allowance for one person in the UK.

I ask because if one of the couple has no earnings there may be a great advantage in a joint claim.

My Wife does not have an income, we make a joint Spanish tax return. I think its about 8,000 euros tax free allowance.

If both are working it would appear to be 2 X 5,000 odd, more of over 65 yrs.

see http://www.spanish-living.com/moving...rates-2009.php

John that is interesting.

So if you are paid a company pension by a UK company in sterling how do you declare it. Is it the exchange rate you actually get, the interbank rate, tourist rate etc. What do the hacienda accept?

My pensions administrators say they can pay in euros but are at the mercy of the rate given by their bank.