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Pension Question


Lehaut
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Long story short. Wife has two private pensions paid into whilst working in UK. Now coming up to age when she can take some benefits from the pots under new Government legislation. One company, small pot, will allow flexible drawdown no problem. Second company, bigger pot, will not allow this. Only option they give is to take it all, (40% tax implications), buy an annuity or transfer to another pension provider and suffer transfer charges. Rang first pension provider, they will not accept transfer as its "new business" as we have lived outside the UK for more than 5 years. Has any one else come across this and can give a pointer to a way forward ie have flexible access to "our" money. Thanks.
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Possibly I am wrong but Parsnips will soon put us right if I have the wrong idea ... but if you are French resident surely, having paid the required 40% tax in the UK, you will be reimbursed when you sign the form to say that you will be declaring the sum in France. That way you should end up paying much less tax - eventually.

This is the idea my OH has with his 2 small pension pots, though no question of 40% tax for him as the pots are both small.

Sue
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I was looking into QROPS and decided not to do it now because the management fees are charged on the initial fund value transferred and are set for the first ten years.  As I'm 55 before that ten years are up it would mean I'd still be paying fees on the whole amount even if I take the 30% out, so I was best to wait until 55.  I've been advised to not just rush into a QROPS because some of the benefits of that are also provided under the flexible pensions arrangements.  SIPPS is apparently worth looking into. 

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Going through a similar process and have come up against the same problem. I eventually decided to transfer one pot to the Hargreaves Lansdowne Vantage SIPP which can be managed online and HL allow transfers for non-UK residents (some other providers do not)
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Ended up on the same website for the same product. Have you actually done the deed? How do you find the charges and have you opted for you doing the work with the investments or their management system? Grateful for any advice, thanks.
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Try reading the following link.

 

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/3/3231127/ShowPost.aspx#3231127

 

It seems somebody has already done this.

 

I am not sure what the difference is between QROPS and simply taking all the money and investing it elsewhere.

 

How much UK tax you will initially pay if you cash the pension in seems to be calculated based on you drawing all the money in one week which is multiplied by 52 to get an annual amount and on which the tax rate is initially calculated. This of course can all be claimed back if your French resident (i.e. complete a French tax return). Use the forms mentioned in the link and you will get all the tax back pretty quickly or alternatively you can wait till April and your UK tax will be recalculated down to the correct amount which again you can claim back. You could try asking the original poster in the link what they did with their money and if they did pay only 7.5% tax and if they got their social charges back.

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