Pension pots - Is there a Cyprus Plan?

Erlang

Hi
I have read some of the threads here about UK non residents extracting pension pots as I am in a similar situation.

I live and work in Cyprus and HMRC have agreed I'm non resident hence they have generated an NT code for my UK employer, I then declare this UK sourced income to Cyprus and pay their taxation. That seems settled (finally).

Im over 55 and have a small pension pot of about £20K from a previous UK resident employment, this has spent the last year shrinking due to charges and no apparent gains, so Im considering taking the pot and doing something useful with it.

The fly in the ointment is I'm also in receipt of a UK government provided pension which at the moment is still being taxed in the UK, rather than Cyprus.

So if I'm attempting to use a variation on the Portugal plan here in Cyprus should I get the HMG Pension taxed by Cyprus before pulling the pot, or am I missing something smarter to do with the pot?

Thanks

atush

Your pension is dropping because the market dropped. this is normal. You can say who it is with, the charges and the investments within if you want opinions.

There is no need to draw it, and spend it (or pay tax on it and put it into taxed savings).

I would let it ride until you need the money for retirment.

Erlang

Thanks Atush for the reply.

It's L&G, with investments with:
Aberdeen Life UK & Global (50/50) Equity Fund about20%
L&G Fixed Interest Fund about 30%
L&G UK Equity Index Fund about 20%
Newton Multi-Asset Balanced Fund about 30%

No further money is being contributed to it and charges are approx £10 a month

It just seemed such a small amount to be useful in 10 years time.

grey_gym_sock

you're right that £20k is not a huge sum of the context of retirement planning - unless you're planning a very frugal retirement. i'm not sure how low the cost of living is in cyprus ...?

but you haven't told us much about the rest of your retirement planning. you say you're receiving 1 pension, but also still earning. so presumably you'll need more pension income to replace your current earnings? a £20k pot won't go far, but it's a start, so perhaps leave it where it is, and also contribute to some other pension (though i have no idea what is a suitable pension to contribute to for somebody working in cyprus)? or do you have further pensions, which you haven't mentioned, which will start paying out at some point?

OldBeanz

Cyprus - 55 - pension in payment- still working, there is a good chance it will be a forces pension. There are British Financial Advisors in Cyprus who have worked there for years who will be in the best position to advise you.

Erlang

Thank you all, yes a Forces pension, £12K PA.
The 20K pot is left over from my last UK job which was only for a couple of years.
Mortgage free, but I might buy BTL given a remaining working life of approx only 10 years.

I'll ask around for local FA as suggested.

atush

Are you aware f the new BTL rule re:taxation? It will not be as good a proposition as before. There is now extra stamp duty to pay, and the allowed expenses to put against the income are being scaled back too.

If you are buying a place to eventually come back to is another thing.