What happens to pension if you emigrate?

aliasojo

OH has a works pension which both he and his employer contribute to every month. He also has a small Army pension.

What happens to his pension(s) if we decide to emigrate to Canada for example? He would be doing the same job, but with a different employer.

Any pointers would be useful. Thanks.

DavidLaGuardia

Pension payments from a UK pension are subject to UK tax. In practise where a double tax agreement exists between the UK and the country in question (i.e. you are assessed for tax on your income in country X) it would be possible to have the pension paid gross in the future.

The state pension brings on other problems. Living in some countries (and this certainly did apply to Canada when I looked a few years ago) while you can get your state pension it does not rise in retirement.

Pal

The big problem is exchange rates and the cost of converting the money every month. You might want to keep a UK bank account open to receive the money, and then do a single currency conversion every six months or so to reduce the transaction costs.

ReportInvestor

DavidLaGuardia is right. There are more details

on this link

about the freeze on the state pension if you emigrate to certain countries.

The campaign against this discrimination has just had a setback before the Law Lords .

Your state pension is frozen if you emigrate to these countries

Australia
Canada
Hong Kong
South Africa
Zimbabwe
New Zealand
Trinidad & Tobago

Half a million people are affected.

ReportInvestor

This Guardian article

has some useful pointers about pensions when working abroad.

This Guardian section

has loads of articles about moving abroad.

Cook_County

The Guardian article is long out of date.

1. It is possible to transfer most UK pension schemes to the country where you reside subject to agreement by the regulator in the place you transfer the money too.

2. The 5 year rule is wiped out in April 2006 so use it this year if you need because it will be gone soon...

Pal

However, although you can transfer pensions overseas it does not mean that you should actually do it. Tax regimes are different, and you can end up losing a lot of money by making a poor transfer. This is something to take professional advice on when you get to the country that you are going to be living in.

frugal_dougal_3

You might like to read this http://www.transatlantictransfers.com/ for some more info.