zhonguo

Hi
I'm British, will be retiring back to UK in the next few years. I worked in US for a while, accumulating 24 credits in social security. Not enough to qualify for a US pension. I do have enough contributions to qualify for a UK pension, though not a full one. I've worked elsewhere (currently China) and have missed some NI years.

I know I can top up the missing NI years, but is it possible to use the US social security credits to offset these missing years? I am unlikely to work in the US again, do the 24 credits have any other value?

thanks
David

rpjs

Not sure, but you can also make voluntary NI contributions to HMRC until you reach UK state pension age and back pay up to six years. This would increase the size of your UK state pension: you need 35 years of contributions for a full pension. The cost is around £12 per missing month.

zhonguo

Thanks rpjs - Yes, I will probably end up topping up my UK state pension in that way, though I'm hoping the UK system (through some bilateral agreement perhaps?) might recognize the 24 credits that I've already paid for in the US system.

nun

Th US/UK SS agreement only allows payments into one scheme to be used to qualify for a benefit in the other scheme. Then the benefit is calculated on your actual contributions to the scheme.

So, If you have enough NI credits to qualify for a UK state pension your US FICA payments are useless as fare a the UK is concerned. However, you can use your UK NI record to top up your US SS payment record and if it goes over 40 quarters of contributions (ie 10 years) you will get a US SS check calculated using your 24 US contributions.

theOAP

No.

If I understand your situation correctly, you do have enough UK credits to qualify you for the UK State pension (10 years, I believe).

Since you already qualify for the UK State pension, the US SS contributions are not needed, and can not be used to enhance the UK State pension, but, your UK credits can be used to help you qualify for the US SS, giving you the needed 40 credits, although the benefit will only be based on an amount generated by the 24 credits.

See the US/UK Totalization agreement.

https://www.ssa.gov/international/Ag...phlets/uk.html

Oops, I see nun has already responded.

zhonguo

Thanks both! - I shall explore the idea of topping up the US credits. I had not considered the idea that I could qualify for a US pension.

nun

Depending on your number of NIC contributions and the length of time you expect to work back in the UK, and hence pay more NICs, you might want to look at making some voluntary top up NICs to increase your UK state pension.

zhonguo

I have 27 qualifying NIC years. I've not paid contributions since 2004 - some of those years I can pay class 3 contributions now to top up, but I do hope to work for a couple of years after returning to the UK.
From the link that theOAP posted it seems that my US credits can be counted towards full UK pension qualification. Also, as I understand it, my company might have had a certificate of coverage for my US employment. Will quiz them.

nun

Your US SS contributions are irrelevant for your UK state pension as you already have enough UK NICs to qualify for a reduced pension. You will have to pay another 8 years of NICs to get to 35 years to qualify for the full flat rate UK state pension. You might be able to pay Class 2 NICs if you work for a foreign employer, but if you plan to work for 8 more years in the UK those contributions would see you up to the 35 years "finish line".

As OAP and I have said your UK contributions can be used to get you up to 10 years of US SS contributions so you qualify for a US SS check, but the amount would be calculated ONLY on your actual US contributions record....so it would be a small check.

zhonguo

Nun, thanks for clarifying. This information has been very helpful.