Former UK public sector staff urged to think about pension transfer

Monday, June 30th 2014, 3:45PM 2 Comments

Former UK public sector staff who are now New Zealand residents need to make a decision on whether they transfer this pension scehme.

"Due to radical plans to reform pensions currently under consideration by the UK Treasury, British ex-pats could miss out on significant pension opportunities if they fail to act quickly," GBPensions adviser Tony Chamberlain says.

"If people don't act in time before April 2015 they may never be able to transfer their pension scheme. They'll effectively be trapped into a tax liability under the draconian NZ system for the rest of their lives, with no possible way to manoeuvre," he says.

"Notwithstanding these horrendous tax consequences, they will also have lost the ability to benefit from the numerous advantages that NZ pension schemes have to offer."

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Comments from our readers

On 4 July 2014 at 11:59 am Richard Harden said:
Yes, interesting changes potentially coming in next April and who knows how this will affect QROPS transfers and in particular defined benefit schemes.

However, it's a big decision to transfer from a "guaranteed" final salary scheme into market linked scheme's in NZ.

Too often have I seen very little advice and analysis provided to clients yet hefty upfront costs to transfer. I'm not so sure about the "horrendous tax consequences" as pensions left in the UK are effectively tax deferred and then taxed as income when received.

Transferring could provide a serious tax issue depending how long someone has been outside the UK. The ever changing world of QROPS.
On 22 July 2014 at 10:49 am Richard Harden said:
Here is the latest UK statement which confirms pension holders will still be able to transfer out of defined benefit schemes. Overall major changes to UK pensions giving greater flexibility. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freedom-and-choice-in-pensions

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