It depends on if you require compulsory insurance in the UK, If you get a full time job in the UK, you cant access all the Swiss pension as you are subject to the insurance requirement.
Thanks. I've taken that into account and we're going to have a nice long vacation until I get all of my pension transfered. I believe it can take about 6 months give or take, so during that time I will be without employment and living off my investments, hence not subject to compulsory insurance.
Later I plan to work part time, as yet to be decided in what. Something completely different to my career, most likely working with people.
You can't start the process until after you have been UK resident for 6 months, Bern writes to HMRC then when the reply is received you will get the release, it was a total of 8-9 months IIRC.
Great info, thanks! I didn't know that. I may need to take an even longer vacation haha.
If I decided to become self employed before applying for the transfer of my pension, would I be right in thinking it wouldn't have any impact, since potentially I could pay class 2 volontary contributions or not, as opposed to obligatory contributions as an employee ?
I have not looked at the 'workplace' pension in detail, you need to check it out.
I guess you could become self employed & do nothing for 3 months or even a year, then back date your NI contributions etc. Definitely wait before paying voluntary contributions you have several years to fill in gaps. Unless it's clear you will breach the VAT limit in the first couple of months it's not an issue as long as it ends up on your tax return.
Now that the transition period is over and we are officially out, any updates on this?
Do we now get to keep it all when moving to the UK?
As of my phone call today with UBS, she advised me that you can now withdraw the money regardless of age as UK is no longer part of EU.
The question still remains if you pay Swiss tax which is directly taxed as per my call, do you still pay UK tax as well?
Would love to know if this is true as I’m thinking of leaving CH to go to the U.K. in September. Would like to withdraw the pension funds too.
Pillar 2: If you live in the UK and withdraw pillar 2, you will pay Swiss tax on it deducted at source. Under article 18 of the UK-CH tax treaty, you do not need to pay UK tax on this (providing you do not ask back for the Swiss tax ,which I believe you cannot do anyway in this specific case). If you did get Swiss tax back, you need to pay full tax on it in the UK, which is a lot more for most people. You do need to declare this on self assessment in the UK in the any other info box and state you claim under the DTA and which article!
However, if you worked for a section of Swiss employers that are considered government or local authority, then you need to be extra careful: If you live in the UK and are a UK national, you will be liable to UK tax under article 19 and not Swiss tax. So you would need to reclaim Swiss tax and pay the full wack with self assessment in the UK What I do not know is whether for example staff working at Swiss universities fall under the government article (they do in some countries).
Disclaimer: take professional advise!
Pillar 3a: I still do not know how this is seen in the UK! The treaty talks about pension funds and how it must relate to an employer. In case of pillar 3a, I am not sure how that would work, i.e., whether they are 'pension schemes' in UK interpretations?
In a way they are like cash held in a SIPP so if anyone else has any info, please let us know!
I have been back in the UK some 8 years but first, when I tried to transfer to my company pension this was disallowed as the Swiss scheme is not n the ROPS list. And then I just cannot find a necessary document, "Copy of the confirmation of de-registration from your last municipality of residence in Switzerland or copy of the cancellation of your cross-border commuter permit"
I no longer have a swiss bank account anymore either.
I think Transferwise borderless account might be useful for you.
Also, some big UK banks have foreign currency accounts, you could check HSBC as they have Euro accounts for example.
You can probably ask your gemeinde for a copy of the attestion by post or email as they can look you up in their database...
Lastly, you do not need to transfer to a QROPS, you are requesting a lump sum payment to yourself, directly. Go to the site of your vested benefits (pillar 2) foundation, some have forms in English. Or transfer the funds to
https://web.aeis.ch/
They can then help you as their forms and website are also in English.
Hi All,
I wrote to the Stiftung Auffangeinrichtung in September last year asking for a payment based on emigration and send all relevant documentation that they asked for. As I left Switzerland in 2012 I did not have everything. As we have now left the EU I was under the impression I could withdraw my vested fund.
They have since wrote to me 6 months later asking if I could send the following information which I have except for one piece.
- A current official certificate of deregistration from Switzerland (Original). Does anyone know how I can obtain this from Zug.
They have also asked for a copy of my tenancy agreement, tax statement or electricity bill from where I currently reside in the UK.
Thanks in advance
Graham
You need to prove that you have been living in the UK for at least 6 months & that you have registered for tax. It's HMRC who would confirm if you were subject to compulsory insurance or not.
I just got off the phone with Asga pension. Due to Brexit i can withdraw my pension in full with no complications. No restrictions on living in the UK for a certain amount of time, payed out to a normal UK bank account. They pay out within a week but deduct 6% for tax purposes but apparently you can get it back once declared in the UK. You obv still need the full info like deregistration from Switzerland etc...
If you reclaim the Swiss withholding tax, it will be taxable in full as income in the UK. Likely to me multiple's of 6% depending on your total earnings in the tax year,
Thanks for this. I do not have a clue! Im not the best on this topic to be honest, Asga just stated they keep around 6% which is in line with UK tax. They then refund this 6% tax when UK tax is filled & info passed on to them? Does that make sense?
Do you think its best to write off this 6% and just bank the pension in the U.K? Will i have to declare it in the UK?
Just for context, i will most probs be going back to the UK to take a PhD so unsure if student status will affect anything.
They have no idea, they deduct Swiss withholding tax that get paid to Swiss Canton, thats it. UK tax rates vary from 20 - 45%, if taxable in the UK it would be taxed at your full marginal rate, i.e. added to your income for that year.
You may need to declare on UK return (Not done one for 27 years) but you will not have to pay further tax unless this is 'disguised remuneration' Unless you were a UK co director funnelling money abroad this is unlikely to be an issue.
The only time to reclaim the Swiss tax if the sum was below £12,500 & you had between 0 - £8,500 other taxable income so taxed between 0-6%
Great thanks for this. My sum is low as i do not have a great “Swiss” wage and I haven’t been here very long so it literally comes to around the 12.5k figure you state, which i guess is why they mentioned i could claim the 6% back.
UK tax year ends on 5th April, if your earnings in the UK are close to zero & you get the payment before the 5th April then the Swiss withholding tax is worth reclaiming.
I looked into the reclaiming of tax once, but found a form saying it cannot be done. (Something about privatvorsorge not being allowed a reclaim).
I can dig it out, but am pretty certain. Only if you work for a government agency I think it is possible.