Advisers stunned by pension transfer ‘tax grab’
Until recently it’s been thought that UK superannuation fund transfers aren’t taxable, but the IRD has put out a proposal that would see a certain percentage of each transfer treated as income based on a sliding scale of how long the owner of the funds had lived in New Zealand.
Those who transfer their funds across within four years of migrating to New Zealand would pay no tax, while those who have lived in the country more than 25 years at the time of transfer face having 33% of their money taken by the IRD, which would treat 100% of the transfer as income.
The IRD has offered two options for those potentially affected: apply the rules that existed in previous years, or; voluntarily pay tax on 15% of the transferred amount.
Leech & Partners tax adviser Chris Heffernan described the tax situation around previous transfers as “confused” and said there is little guidance from the IRD on the issue.
Click the button below to subscribe and will have free unlimited access for a limited time to full article and all other articles on the site.
You will also be able to comment on articles on Good Returns.
![[Weekly Wrap] KiwiSaver in play; but outcome unclear](https://goodreturns.publit.io/file/c_fill,w_300,h_200/0ad582e4-c9a3-4692-bbe2-62d928f77fd2.jpg)