SA Expat moving back home

MHRSA

I have been living the UK for the past 12 years but now its time to go home to glorious SA. I'm looking for some advice/tips on what to do with my ISAs and pension.

ISA - I believe the best thing would be to withdraw the money now (tax-free) and close the account before I leave. I don't see any benefit of leaving it here even if it is outside the Rand, I won't be able to add to it once I'm back home?

Pension - I have a couple of money purchase ones with Aviva and Aegon, circa £80k in total. I'm 43 so I can't withdraw them for a while. I'm looking at transferring them to My Expat SIPP. They seem pretty new but ideal for my situation. Does anyone have any experience of them?

Also, I'm thinking of keeping my Barclays bank account open as an emergency, non-Rand fund. Is that sensible?

Thanks in advance for your help

simple_expat

Lucky you, South Africa is one of my favourite places!

I think it would probably be wise to withdraw the funds from your ISA now, as any withdrawals once you're back in SA, will probably be subject to tax there (although I'm not sure how they recognise UK ISA tax treatment).

I've had a look at the My Expat SIPP and it looks like this would be a good pension for you. Although it's a while off, it says they can pay your withdrawals into your local bank account. I've had many friends who have had difficulty getting their UK pension paid into their local account.

Leaving your Barclays account open does sound sensible, but watch out for the SA taxman snooping on it!