Transferring pension contributions to Italy - what about qualifying years?

dan_first_time_buyer

Hi.

I am considering to move to Italy and transfer my UK pension(s) to there. I've read this relevant government guide, and therefore I'm aware I'll need to first transfer it to Malta.

I have around 15 qualifying years and was trying to decide whether it would be a good idea to pay voluntary NI contributions on a couple of years, which I could.

I have two questions:

- Will my UK qualifying years be transferred to Italy? E.g. If I get to 19 qualifying years (after voluntary contributions) would I end up having 19 qualifying years also in the Italian system?

- Apart from the state pension, I am also part of a civil service pension scheme here in the UK. Will those two pensions end up "in the same state pension pot" in Italy?

Thanks.

kuratowski

The linked guide refers to private pensions.  The state pension has separate rules.

You are talking about your National Insurance contributions - those cannot be transferred abroad.  You will keep your entitlement to a UK state pension and it will be paid by the UK when you reach state pension age.  You can separately build up a state pension entitlement in Italy if eligible according to their rules.

If you are going to be working while in Italy, buying additional UK state pension years via class 2 NI contributions is widely seen as a very good value investment.

Your UK civil service pension probably* can't be transferred either.  It will be deferred until you reach normal pension age.
* It probably can't because of legislation prohibiting DB to DC transfers for the unfunded public sector schemes.  There is a faint chance of doing a DB to DB transfer if you joined a new employer offering a defined benefit pension, but that seems fairly unlikely as there are few employers offering such.  And even less likely that you would be able to transfer it from UK to Italy.

Marcon

kuratowski said:

The linked guide refers to private pensions.  The state pension has separate rules.

You are talking about your National Insurance contributions - those cannot be transferred abroad.  You will keep your entitlement to a UK state pension and it will be paid by the UK when you reach state pension age.  You can separately build up a state pension entitlement in Italy if eligible according to their rules.

If you are going to be working while in Italy, buying additional UK state pension years via class 2 NI contributions is widely seen as a very good value investment.

Your UK civil service pension probably* can't be transferred either.  It will be deferred until you reach normal pension age.
* It probably can't because of legislation prohibiting DB to DC transfers for the unfunded public sector schemes.  There is a faint chance of doing a DB to DB transfer if you joined a new employer offering a defined benefit pension, but that seems fairly unlikely as there are few employers offering such.  And even less likely that you would be able to transfer it from UK to Italy.

Depends which civil service pension OP is in. If it's the Partnership Pension, that's a DC arrangement.

dan_first_time_buyer

Thanks Kuratowski.

I totally got that wrong then.

I would have preferred if I was able to transfer everything - I feel a bit uneasy that I will probably end up with two non-full pensions, and whichever country I'll decide to spend my retirement the GBP/EUR currency exchange rate will affect how much I will be able to afford.

But maybe that is just short-sighted thinking...

dan_first_time_buyer

Marcon said:

Depends which civil service pension OP is in. If it's the Partnership Pension, that's a DC arrangement.

It's the alpha pension.

kuratowski

Marcon said:

Depends which civil service pension OP is in. If it's the Partnership Pension, that's a DC arrangement.

Excellent point!

@dan_first_time_buyer: Alpha is Defined Benefit.  So what I wrote would apply.