Taking ALL of my pension "pot" tax free?

zafod1

atush wrote: »

Have you been there before?

Yes

atush wrote: »

Do you like Portugal?

Yes

atush wrote: »

How much would a home cost?

I could buy a 3 bed detached villa with pool for around £150k.

atush wrote: »

It seems to me a daft idea to move somewhere only to save tax (ie no other reason).

Portugal was already on my shortlist of places to retire to before I knew about their scheme.

atush wrote: »

If you retired here, and took your 25% TFLS and then drew up to your PA each year you would also not pay any tax.

I have other pensions to draw on (just over £12k per year) so there's none of my PA left for me to draw tax free in UK!

Thanks.

zafod1

jamesd wrote: »

What you are considering is entirely possible. Note the potential catches if you were to return to the UK within a few years of doing it. You can probably find somewhere outside the UK where you're content to live for a while even if that ends up not being Portugal.

Also ensure that you don't do things like having a property available for your use in the UK, lest HMRC claim that you are resident here anyway. Letting out any property in the UK should suffice to make it unavailable to you.

The ability to save £30,000 in basic rate income tax by choosing Portugal as your first sunny place residence is quite desirable. You'll presumably also save money on other pension or investment income as well.

My wife and I are planning to sell up in the UK and live permanently in Portugal. Our UK property sale will finance the Property in Portugal.

zafod1

SeniorSam wrote: »

If you do what you are considering and move back to the UK in later life, don't expect any financial support if you run short of income. The government would not allow someone who has spent their pension and then expected to be suported. Probably not an issue for either of you, but worth mentioning in case others thought of cashing in their pensions.

My pensions are £12k+ and my wifes pension will be £16k+. This is in addition to my "Pot" (and my wifes lump sums). With no rent or mortgage to pay I don't forsee any financial problems as we are careful with what we spend (with the exception of the Lambourghini I'll be buying!).

kangoora

jamesd wrote: »

SeniorSam, please provide links to the relevant official announcements stating that means tested benefits will not be provided to those who no longer have money left in their personal pension pots.

I'm aware of no such policy, however large or small the pension pot and whether the money was taxed or not as it was withdrawn. Nor have I seen anything relating to special worse treatment for those who draw their pension pots in other parts of the EU or broader world.

Well, I returned to the UK after just two years abroad when the company I was working for in USA went Chapter 11.

I was only entitled to JSA despite having no home in UK and having to rent because 'I'd spent more than 6 months out of the country'. I was particularly p*****d off at the time as I'd been paying tax and NI from the age of 16 up to age 38 when I left for the USA.

This was 13/14 years ago so things may have changed since then.

madeinireland_2

Hmmmm - this might be a clever way around my LTA problem as well

lvader

SeniorSam wrote: »

I believe that it will definately be made clearer before too long, otherwise the floodgates will be open to all sorts of stupidity.

Why should someone who saves for retirement and spends it too quickly be treated any worse than someone that made no effort to save what so ever?

jamesd

madeinireland wrote: »

Hmmmm - this might be a clever way around my LTA problem as well

Right. One of the idly amusing things about that is that those it affects by definition have the financial means to be creative. A nice holiday in Portugal for a few years financed by the tax and LTA charge they would have to pay if they stayed in the UK, say.

molerat

lvader wrote: »

Why should someone who saves for retirement and spends it too quickly be treated any worse than someone that made no effort to save what so ever?

Probably in the same way as any means tested benefit can be refused due to deprivation of capital, the same outcome that deferring the state pension can have.

lvader

molerat wrote: »

Probably in the same way as any means tested benefit can be refused due to deprivation of capital, the same outcome that deferring the state pension can have.

I didn't think spending the money counted as deprivation.

atush

zafod1 wrote: »

Yes



Yes



I could buy a 3 bed detached villa with pool for around £150k.



Portugal was already on my shortlist of places to retire to before I knew about their scheme.





I have other pensions to draw on (just over £12k per year) so there's none of my PA left for me to draw tax free in UK!

Thanks.

These are all pertinent facts to mention when asking your Q.

If Portugal was ont he cards then fine. And no PA (what about your OH?) fine too.