Many people migrating from the UK to Australia each year have built up a sizeable pension fund. At some point they would look at a UK pension transfer to Australia. In some cases people would wait until they have migrated and then decide what to do with their UK pension. But is this the right thing to do?
In most cases it is not. For people to maximise their options and receive the best possible advice, they would need to approach an expert in UK pension transfers to Australia before they migrate. This is because an experienced UK authorised and regulated adviser can look at all details of your case and give an unbiased assessment of your options.
For some people, who have participated in fairly generous UK employer pension schemes, their fund could well be in excess of the annual cap permitted to transfer in to Australia. In which case, they have no choice but to keep all or part of their UK pension funds offshore from Australia. By taking advice from UK adviser’s Global QROPS Ltd, prior to leaving the UK, pension members would be able to receive solutions to the problem of the Australian cap. The solution could be UK consolidation, staggered transfers across to Australia from a UK scheme, income and tax free cash payments or other overseas pension solutions – such as the use of Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes. All of these solutions could be in place before migration and would not be available in Australia.
