UK Pension and moving abroad

phb71

Hi there

I've been living in the UK for 2 years and thinking of start saving for retirement as I'm 29. I'm really interested by the UK pension plan with the 20% tax relief (free money!) scheme. However, I'm pretty sure I'll be moving abroad in 2-3 years to a different country and a few others after that.

Can I:
- keep putting money into my UK pension plan while living and working abroad the rest of my life?
- benefit the 20% tax relief for my monthly deposit from my personal abroad bank account?
- retire and cash in the UK pension plan into a UK bank account while living abroad?

Thank you in advance for answering.

Paul

jem16

phb71 wrote: »

Can I:
- keep putting money into my UK pension plan while living and working abroad the rest of my life?
- benefit the 20% tax relief for my monthly deposit from my personal abroad bank account?

No - once you leave the UK you will no longer be eligible for tax relief. However you can leave your pension in the UK to grow.

retire and cash in the UK pension plan into a UK bank account while living abroad?

Yes. You may also be able to transfer your pension using the QROPS system.

phb71

Thanks Jem16. What about the first question, adding money into the pension while living/working abroad?

bigadaj

No, if you're not paying UK tax then there's no tax relief to benefit from.

There are similar systems in many countries but that will depend on where you move to.

xylophone

http://www.aviva-for-advisers.co.uk/site/public/tech-centre/tech-article-detail/overseas-opportunities-for-personal-pension-members

"You may have clients who are no longer UK resident or who expect to leave the UK at some time in the future. These client still need to consider their short and long term plans when deciding what to do with any existing UK pension arrangements

If your client does not have any existing pension arrangements, they may want to establish a personal pension plan while they are still UK resident.

This option may not be available after they have left the UK.
If they are leaving the UK for a short time, or are not sure of their long term plans, they may be able to continue paying contributions to their existing UK pension arrangement and benefit from basic rate tax relief for up to five tax years."

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/rpsmmanual/rpsm13103020.htm

phb71

Regardless of the tax relief, can I still pay contribution to UK pensions even leaving abroad? Tax relief is my 2nd question

atush

There is no point w/o tax relief. Better to just invest your money into funds w/o the tax wrapper?

But do investigate the availability of such schemes in your country of residence?

xylophone

Regardless of the tax relief, can I still pay contribution to UK pensions even leaving abroad? Tax relief is my 2nd question

Have you looked at the links in my post above?

Another link http://adviser.royallondon.com/technical-central/information-guidance/overseas/contributions-to-registered-schemes-for-overseas-individuals/

jem16

phb71 wrote: »

Thanks Jem16. What about the first question, adding money into the pension while living/working abroad?

Technically the answer is yes you can. However practically that might not be so simple as it's dependent on the pension and the provider.

If it's an occupational pension once you leave that employment you may not be allowed to continue contributing.

If it's a personal pension some providers will allow you to contribute whilst not a UK resident but some providers will not.

atush

Save into a pension here while living here.

Invest outside a pension once you are gone (or into a pension within our country of residence if you can get TR).

phb71

The main downside is that if I start a new pension somewhere, compounding will start from 0 for that pension and it'll be less money at retirement of the 2 combine, is this correct?