Uk Pension Tax

[buffcoat]

I am still in the UK but hope to retire to LOS with my Thai wife in the not too distant future .

I believe that the wonderful UK tax man will nail me for tax on my private pension forever as well as National Insurance until I reach official retirement age for the state pittance .

Am I correct in this assumption or is there a means of finally getting the leaches in the UK tax office off my back?

[GuestHouse]

Let's remind ourselves that you received tax breaks for paying into both of these schemes.. and still do so.

This may be useful depending on your income and how long until you retire.

If you have spare cash, enough savings to support you until retirement you can get your current salary tax free by living off savings and paying all of your salary (above your tax free allowance) into your pension.

This provides a better pension for you life in Thailand and reduces your tax in the UK. It also pads your pension to enable you to take advantage of the following:

Currently you are able to take a tax free lump sum from your pension, but of couse this reduces your pension - You should take advice on doing this before you retire. Something to consider is if, as is often the case, your wife is very much younger than you she may receive a pension factored against her age after your death, this added to her longer life expectancy after your death (and the impact of inflation) might suggest that you do not take the tax free lump sum in order to provide long term security for your wife.

However, be warned. The Conservatives (John Major) raised the idea of taxing these currently tax free sums way back then - Nothing has been done about that by the Labour Party, but they are a sitting duck to the argumment that since you didn't pay tax on this money when you earned it, why should you receive it tax free.

All these things asside, you AND your wife are both entitled to tax a tax allowance in the UK - you should talk to a financial advisor about what is the best way of making use of both of these tax allowances without restricting your income.

[GuestHouse]

Oh and don't what ever you do, put your private/company pension in your Will.

Doing so can seriously damage your dependent's income after your death as it can place your pension within death duties.

Your private/company pensions are heald "In Trust", you should complete a 'Statement of Wishes' in which you name your wife as a dependent and the percentage of pension/insurance that she should receive after your death.

You should also provide information to the executor of your Will to ensure that s/he has this information and is able to act as itermedary on behalf of your wife to ensure she receives your pension after your death and in the years to come.

[billrose]

I am still in the UK but hope to retire to LOS with my Thai wife in the not too distant future .

I believe that the wonderful UK tax man will nail me for tax on my private pension forever as well as National Insurance until I reach official retirement age for the state pittance .

Am I correct in this assumption or is there a means of finally getting the leaches in the UK tax office off my back?

Yes you are correct, Thailand has a "double taxation agreement" with the UK, but this does not apply to private pensions. Also when you finally reach official retirement age you will not get the annual increases that most people get when they retire to some other countries, particularly EU countries. However don't let that put you of coming to live here, it's wonderful.

[Lickey]

Buffcoat, your private pension is not affected atall, as long as you prove to your tax office that you no longer work in the UK, ie, send them your final p45/p60 whatever and your year end pension statment, if you are not already claiming this and over 50, suggest you do before leaving UK, also set up a good internet accesible bank acc in uk, i use Nationwide, they send monthly statements to my thai address and ATMs are free with this service, and dont forget to claim income tax refund if you are employed rather than self-employed, dont hold your breath on this one though, been here nearly a year and still waiting,,

[buffcoat]

Thank you all for your comments and advice, I will certainly act on it.

[mac.wheeler]

I am still in the UK but hope to retire to LOS with my Thai wife in the not too distant future .

I believe that the wonderful UK tax man will nail me for tax on my private pension forever as well as National Insurance until I reach official retirement age for the state pittance .

Am I correct in this assumption or is there a means of finally getting the leaches in the UK tax office off my back?

I recently met a guy whilst in Portugal on business who deals with exactly this problem as a living.

I don't remember all the details 100% but it goes something like this:

If you have a fairly large (1 million Stirling or more) pension fund then he can turn it into a tax free principal for you and charges 25% of your usual UK tax bill as his fee.

What he does is arrange for your pension to be moved to Credit Suisse in Singapore, they then lend you the equivalent of your yearly pension at an interest rate equal to the interest rate accrued on your principal (in other words a loan that costs you nothing) for 5 years. After 5 years you can move the principal back to the UK and it will become tax free (can't remember how this bit worked wasn't listening too closely, usual boring dinner party stuff).

I didn't take much notice of him to be honest, but I could probably get in touch with him if you wanted to talk to him about it.

[buffcoat]

Thanks Mac. I had not considered the option of putting my pension fund offshore but it is clearly something I need to investigate with a specialist IFA.

Thanks again for all the replies.