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UK Pension Transfer Guide – Australia
Technical Guides • UK Pension Transfer Guide – Australia
UK Pension Transfer Guide – Australia
This UK pension transfer guide is designed for anyone with a UK pension fund, whether they are Australian residents or individuals who plan to live and/ or retire in Australia.
This in-depth guide includes
- Which pension funds can be transferred
- What is a QROPS
- What is a QROPS SMSF
- What is the age 55 rule
- What is a SIPP
- Why transfer to Australia
- Did you already transfer? The NZ QROPS solution
- Our transfer process
FAQs
Your first initial meeting and fact find with one of our qualified financial advisers is FREE.
In this meeting, your adviser will take a look at your circumstances; where you are in the world, where your assets currently are, and help come up with a plan of financial objectives.
Yes.
We send a letter of authority (LOA) to your pension provider/s. This is an information request and does not permit us to make any changes to your current pension/s.
Then your pension provider will provide us with the details of your current benefits and the terms & conditions of your scheme. They will also provide a transfer value. This states the amount they would pay you to exit the scheme.
Yes.
Hoxton Wealth will prepare a comprehensive report for you that details your current schemes benefits and shows a comparison with your alternative options.
If you decide that a transfer is right for you, Hoxton Wealth will arrange all the required paperwork to facilitate the transfer and set up the pension you wish to transfer into. Once the transfer is complete, we will then provide advice on how to best manage your assets within the new pension, in line with your preferred strategy, and help you meet your goals.
- Private Sector Defined Benefit (DB) Schemes
- Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Schemes, including company and personal pension and draw-down arrangements
- Funded Public Sector DB Schemes
Without a QROPS registration, an overseas pension scheme would not be permitted to accept a transfer from a UK pension scheme
The requirement for a specially drafted trust deed for Australian superannuation funds was as a direct result in 2015 of HMRC removing all Australian QROPS from the approved list. HMRC took this action as they were concerned that Australian Superannuation schemes could pay certain benefits to members before age 55 – thus breaking the ‘Pension Age Test’ condition of being a QROPS.
Subsequently, some Self-Managed Superannuation Funds changed their trust deeds to allow only members to individuals who have already attained age 55. Also, a specialist retail fund known as the Australian Expatriate Superannuation Fund came into existence. These schemes would not be in breach of the ‘Pension Age Test’ and meet the conditions to become QROPS. UK pension funds, therefore, cannot be transferred to Australia until the member reaches the age of 55.
British expats in Australia with UK pensions have used QROPS, but Malta/Gibraltar-based QROPS are not recognised by the ATO, resulting in higher taxes and less regulation by ASIC. Transferring to a New Zealand QROPS can save money and avoid Australian taxes due to the double tax agreement.
You can find out more in the guide.
All the things you need to know
This guide was created by our pension advisers. Our advisers are some of the best in the world and understand the pains of having assets split all over the world. They have put together this easy-to-follow guide to help and inform all UK expatriates who may have questions about transferring their UK pensions abroad.
This guide was last updated in August 2024.
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