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If you are on your way back to New Zealand or Australia here's are a few key
things that you might be interested in:
Transferring your pension home
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You may not know, but the UK tax rules provide excellent tax breaks for
people saving for their retirement. Contributions into UK pension funds are
tax-free. If you wanted to put say £1,000 into a pension fund, you may only
have to contribute personally £780 (or £600 if higher rate taxpayer) and the
Government puts in the rest. Furthermore contributions into an
employer-provided scheme may also mean savings in National Insurance.
Unfortunately the money must usually stay in the UK fund until you retire, and
is then taxable back in your home country when the funds are paid out in the
UK.
Apparently, under the current rules, you can transfer Pension to New Zealand
into an approved super scheme. This can be cashed in but not before 5 years
after giving up residency in UK. After this period of time has elapsed, you
can cash in the value as there is no official retirement age in NZ. The main
word of caution is that you have to make sure not to choose a scheme in NZ
that has a minimum age to retire.
From here it comes down to timing. If you transfer as soon as you leave, you
will be liable for tax on capital growth for the 5 year period. The
alternative is to leave the pension fund here for 5 years, transfer to NZ,
cash in straight away. The risk to this strategy is any law changes. However
there should be some kind of warning for this in NZ so you should know if
you were going to be affected by it. If a law changes that will impact on
the strategy, say 2 years after moving home, then transfer it at this time
so you only have 3 years of cap growth tax instead of 5 years.
Unfortunately, Australian superannuation rules do not
allow this early withdrawal but you are apparently able to transfer your UK pension to an
Australian super scheme when you return. It is advised that you do this within
six months of arriving in Australia so as to avoid potential tax charges on
any increase in value of the fund.
There are a number of companies that will do all of this for you, or you can
apparently do it yourself.
Judd Farris have offices abroad
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Apart from having numerous offices around the UK (London,
Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham & Edinburgh), Judd Farris also have offices in Hong
Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney. Their extensive
client list includes Private Practices, Developers, Retailers, Leisure
Operators, Financial
Institutions and Property Companies. Judd Farris has an extensive database
and network of
clients that allows them to provide you with the best opportunities in the
global market place at any time.
For more information on opportunities abroad, please contact Sarah Taylor
(Sarah.Taylor@JuddFarris.co.uk) or +44 (0)20 7494 2555.
Melbourne Office:
www.juddfarris.com.au
melbourne@juddfarris.com.au
Sydney Office: www.juddfarris.com.au
sydney@juddfarris.com.au
Hong Kong Office:
www.juddfarris.com.au
enquiries@juddfarris.com.hk
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