i am to be seconded to USA for 3 years. currently my employer pays 12% approx toward my UK pension as part of my salary package.

When in US I will be paid by the US arm of the company for all but ideally I would like the company to continue to pay into my UK pension as normal.

The 401K has equitable laws or something which mean I cannot get an equiv contribution in US without it affecting all other employees there.

Guidance and help on this would be most appreciated.

Have them pay you a cash bonus and you put it in your 401K. You can put 15% in a 401K tax free, or more if you're over 50. The only potentially limiting factor is if you and your employer are already putting in more than 3%.

Rathy would "like the company to continue to pay into my UK pension as normal". I doubt if that is possible.

You can't contribute to a UK pension when you aren't working in the UK. I would suggest that contributions to a 401k are the next best possibility.

The cap on 401k contributions is dollar-based, not a percentage. The maximum an employee can contribute each year is $18k (any employer matching contribution is on top of that). Over 50s can put in an additional... $6k, I think - not there yet.

Other than that, it's up to the scheme. Hubby's scheme allows him to contribute up to 85% of each pay packet if he wants to, and it's within the $18k limit. When he joined the company, he eventually became eligible for 401k membership very late in the year, in December, so he jammed the full 85% in for two paychecks to make it as high as possible (he hadn't otherwise contributed to one that year).

Some people like to frontload theirs by maxing out the contributions early in the year, giving their money as much time in the market as possible. Whether this is worth doing depends on the current market conditions, and whether the employer does a true-up of matching contributions at the end of the year.

Is that even possible; I thought 401(k) contributions had to be made from ones pay pre-tax by the employer? A Roth 401(k) would be post-tax, but again I thought such contributions had to be taken directly from one's pay by the employer.

You are correct, I had meant, but didn't say explictly, that the payment would have to go through the US payroll. You cannot take a payment from the UK and somehow get it directly into a US 401k.

Is this a company pension scheme in the UK or a personal pension?
If this is a secondment and your employer is based in the UK, according to one personal pension provider in the UK, the employer is able to continue to make payments into your pension scheme. They require a letter explaining you are a temporary US resident alien and that the company contributing is UK based.

You will need to make sure you complete your US tax return appropriately though

Yes, a company pension. This could be THE solution.

I wonder as the position is a secondment, is it possible for me to get paid in Uk with pensions etc paid as normal and then for us to arrange for a transfer from salary from UK a/c at an agreed set US/UK exchange rate with the UK company? Has anyone done this?

Under most circumstances that isn't practical - because when you're working in the US you and your employer have to pay US income and payroll taxes. There was someone here on BE recently who was doing, but it was at his employer's request and was done with advice from the company's lawyer, so nothing to be trifled with.

Thank you

To be clear, when i did it, the contribution was from my UK employer to my personal pension. I was being paid a salary in the US by the US branch of my employer. This arrangement stopped when my secondment became a permanent posting.

When I first came to the USA it was on a 2 year assignment, then another project on another site and it ended up being 6 years on temporary work visas until I got a green card and transferred permanently. During those 6 years part of my salary was delivered in the UK so that my company pension and my NI contributions were maintained. I actually started drawing that UK pension last month

The 401k was not available to me (don't recall if this was company policy or against the IRS rules) but IRA contributions were allowed.

Thanks all for your helpful guidance

Cx

If you are on a short term intra company transfer (less than 5 years) on an L1 visa you can continue to be on your UK employer's payroll and pay NI and into your UK pension. You will be exempt from US SS taxes.