F.A.Q

It is highly unlikely you will create a taxable event unless you

A/ Have breached the lifetime allowance for pensions (currently 1,055,000). There are some options to try and protect larger amounts see the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pension-schemes-protect-your-lifetime-allowance?dm_i=1W67,4FL8W,BT39VC,GBSLE,1


B/ Your pension was moved to an offshore structure to try and take advantage of tax benefits.  The Government has started to turn a beady eye on these and views them potentially as a tax avoidance scheme.  Each pension is different and worth checking. 

From 2012 onward Employers in the UK were legally obliged to automatically enrol their employees into a company pension scheme.

Generally speaking the rule of thumb seems to be that if you worked there less than 2 years your employer will tend to refund the contributions to you less tax.

As ever each scheme is different and I highly recommend everyone checks. I am happy to do this for you.

Here is a link to a form you can easily fill in and send back to me at  Donald.king@donaldking-internationaladvisory.com


https://1drv.ms/b/s!Av5bB96aiX5mp08giX-UDR0CQruG?e=icytBs

We do not charge to find out what status your pensions are.  When we get a clearer picture and depending on your retirement plans there are several options you can pick.

A/ Leave it where it is

B/ Move it into a new pension structure in the UK where you have more control of your money and are able to lock in decent transfer values

C/ Move it into the EEA and get rid of UK regulation, have more control and avoid issues with lifetime allowance and inheritance on death.

If you want to discuss your situation we can go through this more in depth.

We have 25 years experience of financial services. Having lived through many of the banking crises on trading floors we understand protection is equally important as growth.

We view any client relationship as a partnership. Your views are equally important when deciding a long term investing strategy.

We would readily welcome letting you ask any of our clients what their impressions are.  They can advise you of the level of service and passion for investing we bring to our relationship.

If you work for 35 years in the UK you will be entitled to £168.50 per week  (£8762 per year).

If you move and are working abroad it may make a lot more sense to move the years worked into your relevant tax resident country.

As it stands today the UK has a reciprocal relationship where countries will recognise the years worked in the UK as well as any years studied there.

If you were a higher rate tax payer you will have overpaid your National insurance contributions and will very likely have more years to transfer than you imagine.

Here is a link to the form you will need to find out from the UK HMRC where you stand. You can either do it online or send it back to me and I can help you discover your status.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension


https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-a-state-pension-statement


I will be honest for many people this can represent a great option rather than leaving it in the UK and taking the pension as annual payments