CTland

I am two weeks away from relocating back to UK and would welcome any views on what I should do with my (small) simple IRA.
I have joint US/UK citizenship so know that I have a lifetime of US tax filing to look forward to!
Is it best to leave it here and (hopefully) let it grow? can I transfer the funds into a UK pension plan?
I think it can be cashed in with a 20% ish penalty but would prefer not to do that.
Advice welcome, Thanks

nun

You cannot do a tax free transfer (roll over) to anything other than a qualified US plan and Simple IRAs have special rules so that you have to wait two years to do a rollover to a regular IRA. So bottom line is you cannot move your Simple IRA to the UK without cashing it in and taking the 10% penalty and tax hit.

The best thing to do is to leave it alone and maybe look into how to transfer it to a regular IRA. The UK/US tax treaty will protect any gains from UK taxation and when you take income you will have to pay both US and UK taxation and use foreign tax credits to eliminate double taxation.

CTland

Thanks Nun,
I have been in the scheme 6 years so presume it might be easier to move?
I am leaving the small company I work for and things are a little frosty right now- the owner got his pal to set up and run the scheme and I just wanted to put a little distance between us all...not to mention that the mutals he recommended are all still below what I had paid for them!!.. that taught me a lesson also

nun

You should look at how to roll the Simple IRA into a regular IRA with a low cost provider like Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab. Then you might consider an IRA to ROTH conversion give your tax bracket and future plans. The ROTH has tax free gains and withdrawals in both the US and the UK.

HarryTheSpider

Useful info - thanks

I must also get used to the fact that IRA is not a reference any more to a terrorist organisation!